A "stable" Christmas

The stable.  Not too exciting, is it? Nothing real glamorous there.  A stable. A dwelling, part of the place that people then called 'home.'  A place of function and purpose hardly seems the right place to have a birth, let alone the birth of the King of kings!  And the stable was not a place to receive guests.  It was dirty.  It was smelly.  Functional.  A stable wasn't designed to entertain.  Its purpose was to ensure that the dailyness of the family was kept functioning.  The stable was where the hay and grain were kept for the animals, a place where they were protected from the elements, where garbage was placed, where tools were sharpened and hung for later use.  It was a place of storage, where supplies were kept.

It was for the family and no one else.

How inappropriate, how unacceptable...what a tragedy that this was where the King of kings was to be born....or was it?

We know that ALL things happened 'in the fullness of time'...."a just the right moment"......

GOD CHOSE the EXACT PLACE where He wanted Jesus to be born.
GOD DETERMINED that Jesus be born in a stable.  This was no celestial haphazard boo-boo.  God purposed, planned this, for God wanted the Temporal to interact with THE ETERNAL.  God wanted every human, each one, to know much God was identifying with humankind, how approachable God is and how much HE loves each of us.

The stable was the means to begin to pave the path from who we are to who He would have us be.  You see, by being born in a stable EVERYONE had access to Him!  Those who lived around and about could come and go as they pleased.  From the shepherds, the "untouchables", the "fringies" the "outsiders" the "trouble makers"....yes, the shepherds......to the villagers....to those surrounding them....to Wise Men from afar....to you....to me......all.....everyone is welcomed, at the stable.

God entered the mess in the stable that night.  No mention of "cleaning everything up" is seen in the Scriptures.  No new hay was brought out, no mucking out of the stalls to sanitize the obvious scent of the animals.  God, through Jesus entered that stable.  Nothing else needed to happen, no 'cleaning up' had to occur before it was "worthy" of His holy birth.  For, you see, HE made the place worthy by HIS presence!!  It was holy because HE was there, not because it was prepared for Him to be there.  HE gave it value, gave that ordinary place purpose beyond itself.

The stable.  Available.  Open.  Filled with Jesus.

"Lord, there is room in my life for YOU."