{"id":139,"date":"2009-12-24T17:28:37","date_gmt":"2009-12-25T00:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/farmingforprofits.com\/?p=139"},"modified":"2010-03-13T19:53:21","modified_gmt":"2010-03-14T02:53:21","slug":"the-nativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/?p=139","title":{"rendered":"The Nativity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Of course, I had to pause for a moment.\u00a0 I am tucking in the animals on a winter’s evening.\u00a0 The water is turned off to keep the hoses from freezing.\u00a0 The chicken coops are shut and locked.\u00a0 A peek at the ducks and a visit to the goats to ensure all is well.\u00a0 All of this is usually accomplished as fast as my feet can go in order to get my freezing fingers back in front of the wood stove.\u00a0 But tonight I am stopped in the goat barn, leaning against the hay rack and stirring a finger in their water bucket.<\/p>\n

Now I have seen enough PBS documentaries to know that December 25th<\/sup> has more to do with the church calendar and the winter solstice than the actual birthday of Jesus.\u00a0 But if there was a time and place to remember that event, it is here and now.\u00a0 I can hear the ducks dabbling in their water trough.\u00a0 The rooster is crowing, as he always does when he sees my flashlight flitting around the barn yard.\u00a0 Just his way of letting me know he is on guard even without the sunrise. The goats are pressed against my legs, nuzzling my hands and clothes to check for treats.\u00a0 It is just a regular old barn.\u00a0 The scent of manure competing with the odors of hay and the animals themselves.\u00a0 What would it have been like to meet your child for the first time under these conditions?<\/p>\n

We used to have a friend who preached that people get to wrapped up in the miracle of Jesus’ birth.\u00a0 He stressed that the real, important miracle was the Resurrection after the crucifixion, without which there would be no Christianity.\u00a0 I always told him that only a man would gloss over the virgin birth.\u00a0 If he had felt the growing life inside his womb with no cause except a message from an angel, then I think he would find it a bit more miraculous.\u00a0 If his betrothed was willing to accept the pregnancy when women were stoned for infidelity or premarital sex, he might be more impressed.\u00a0 But I always wondered how he, a father of 3, could not understand what is so miraculous about the Nativity.<\/p>\n

A birth is always a setting for fear and hope, pain and joy.\u00a0 For Mary and Joseph to find themselves with only a barn and some leftover cloth to greet their newborn must have tested their faith in themselves, in their God, in this miracle.\u00a0 How can any parent not be shaken to the core by the thought of confronting all those emotions, alone and in such a humble setting?<\/p>\n

I like to think they were comforted by the presence of the animals.\u00a0 Long before we feared any bacteria that crossed our path, people lived closer with their livestock.\u00a0 So maybe Mary and Joseph found the swish of the donkey’s tail and the lowing of the oxen to be a familiar and calming sound.\u00a0 Perhaps they were the type of people who patted the animals’ flanks kindly upon entering the stable.\u00a0 And spoke softly with reassuring words as they, the strangers in the animals’ home, settled themselves for the night.\u00a0 Even if the birth was too imminent for such pleasantries, I hope they found the chewing of cud in the background and stamping of hooves to be a sign that the natural order was in place.\u00a0 Just as on this dark night I know the occasional rustle of feathers and soft bleat is a sign that all is well, all is calm, the peace of the evening sleep is coming.<\/p>\n

Of course, the angels were with them, too.\u00a0 Now you might imagine trumpets and blinding lights but I doubt this was the case for them.\u00a0 No, I think the angels present at that birth were the ones you and I know quite well.\u00a0 The ones you have met on the nights you lie awake beside your child, unable to sleep for the constant checking of your hand against his sweaty forehead. Waiting, hoping, praying for the fever to break.\u00a0 Or the times you sit beside her bed in the darkness, trying to decide if her cough is raspy enough to warrant waking her for a steamy shower.\u00a0 Willing to give anything in your power for her lungs to clear.\u00a0 On those nights, there are only the quiet house sounds\u2014the heat clicking on, the fridge humming to itself, the dog’s sigh. You can hear your own heart beating in your chest and occasionally, between your own breaths, you will catch the sound of angels breathing, too.\u00a0 Who knows if angels can or often do something to help your child.\u00a0 But there is no doubt that they are there.\u00a0 Perhaps, their presence is most noticeable when they have gone and you awake from an unexpected doze to find yourself alone, the air empty of their watchfulness, and your little one at ease beside you.\u00a0 Yes, I think the angels with Mary and Joseph that night are the ones that have been with parents throughout the ages.\u00a0 With our babies as closely as they were with the Son of God.<\/p>\n

So you can put your faith in the glory of the Resurrection.\u00a0 It is true that miracle gave us the gift of everlasting life, a pardon we did not deserve.\u00a0 But I heard God for the first time when I stood in my barn, holding a warm egg in my hand, listening to the peep and peck as a chick struggled to break free.\u00a0 And I believe God led Joseph and Mary to that stable, away from a crowded and busy city, so they could hear Him whispering in the darkness.\u00a0 I believe He chose to surround them with gentle, honest creatures to comfort them.\u00a0 I believe that humble shelter left plenty of room for the multitude of angels bending near the Earth.\u00a0 I believe that God chose a miracle in a setting so simple, with emotions so common, that a mother standing in a goat barn two thousand years later can close her eyes and almost put herself there.\u00a0 Glorious, indeed.<\/p>\n

It is time to go now.\u00a0 There are still gifts to wrap and assemble.\u00a0 We have, of course, bought too much.\u00a0 And I want to prepare a pie for Christmas dinner.\u00a0 I scratch my goat behind the ears and head out.\u00a0 In the front yard I glance at the silhouettes of the naked trees against the starry night sky.\u00a0 I am blessed here.\u00a0 That for a moment, I can escape the search for the perfect present, the stress of getting a nice family photo for the scrapbook, the desire for the children to behave during a fancy dinner.\u00a0 For just a moment I can almost touch what Christmas is really, truly about.\u00a0 And it is a miracle.\u00a0 The rooster crows after my retreating light.\u00a0 Merry Christmas, friends.\u00a0 May you find your silent, holy night.<\/p>\n

\u00a9<\/span> Stevie Taylor 2010. All Rights Reserved.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of course, I had to pause for a moment.\u00a0 I am tucking in the animals on a winter’s evening.\u00a0 The water is turned off to keep the hoses from freezing.\u00a0 The chicken coops are shut and locked.\u00a0 A peek at the ducks and a visit to the goats to ensure all is well.\u00a0 All of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-sweet-spot","tag-goats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}