stable

Let the Stable Still Astonish: A Repost

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I’ve posted this on numerous social media platforms (and even here at least once), but this one deserves another repost because it so beautifully captures the heart of the Advent and Christmas season.

In all the hustle and bustle and rushing about, it’s good to still our hearts and quiet our souls to reflect on the miracle wrought in a stable so long ago:

“Let the stable still astonish:
Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes,
Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;
Crumbling, crooked walls;
No bed to carry that pain, 
And then, the child,
Rag-wrapped, laid to cry
In a trough.
Who would have chosen this?
Who would have said: ‘Yes,
Let the God of all the heavens and earth
Be born here, in this place’?
Who but the same God
Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms
of our hearts and says, ‘Yes,
let the God of Heaven and Earth
be born here–
in this place'” (Leslie Leyland Fields, Let the Stable Still Astonish).

Let the Stable Still Astonish

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Let the stable still astonish
Straw — dirt floor, dull eyes
Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;
Crumbling, crooked walls;
No bed to carry that pain
And then, the child,
Rag-wrapped, laid to cry
In a trough
Who would have chosen this?

Who would have said ‘Yes,’
‘Let the God of all the heavens
And earth
Be born here, in this place’?
Who but the same God
Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms
of our hearts
and says ‘Yes,’
‘Let the God of Heaven and Earth
be born here –
in this place.’ (Leslie Leyland Fields)

I first read this in a Jan Karon book called Light from Heaven (which I highly recommend) and it captivated me. How true it is that the same God who chose to be born and placed in a feeding trough would choose to be born in my heart, a heart darker and fouler than any manger. I don’t say that to say “Woe is me. Feel sorry for me,” but to say that is the human heart apart from Christ,

I love that God could have left the world to stew in its own mess but didn’t. I love that God could have (and probably should have) left me to my own devices to figure a way out of my own self-created disaster, but He didn’t.

The Bible says that while I was yet a sinner (not while I was trying my very best and doing all the Boy Scout duties and living right) Christ died for me. While I was an enemy of God and opposed to everything  He stood for, He became one of us and died for me.

Christmas is where this started. That’s why I love Christmas so much. That and all the festive decorations and gatherings. And food. Let’s not forget all the food.

 

Advent Is Here Again

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Advent

“‘Yes,’ said Queen Lucy. ‘In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world’” (C. S. Lewis).

Advent means waiting. Not just waiting. It means waiting with expectation. When I think of the word, I think of me as a kid on Christmas Eve, so excited that I couldn’t fall asleep and feeling that the next morning couldn’t arrive fast enough.

Advent means a child awaiting the last day of school and the start of summer break. Or maybe that delicious feeling you get when you set out the driveway toward your vacation destination.

Sadly, most of the things I looked forward to so eagerly haven’t lived up to the hype. I can’t even remember most of the presents I was so anxious to open. Most of them probably ended up in garage sales or in Goodwill donation boxes.

However, the Advent is different. This present comes in a very small package. The infinite became an embryo and then, a helpless infant. God took on flesh and bone and became one of us. His coming meant the birth of hope, the birth of multiple second chances, and the birth of Love. Not sappy romantic love that fades over time, but real and true love that lays down its life for the beloved.

On a side note, if Advent does anything, it should make you look past the surface. It should make you look beyond appearances to what’s underneath. The Bible says that Jesus was nothing to look at (my very loose translation of Isaiah 53:2) but underneath was the salvation of all who put their trust in Him.

Lucy had it right. What was in that stable so long ago was bigger than the whole universe. What was dressed up in rags was worth more than all the universe and everything in it put together.

That’s what I’m waiting for.