The Most Special Birth

It's almost time to celebrate the birth of our Lord.  I am sharing this page from "Daily Guideposts" because it is relevant to my life, and it touched me.

Thanks to Becky Rice, I have the pleasure of reading "Daily Guideposts" every day.  I'm a little ahead right now and want to share the one for December 1 (tomorrow).  It spoke to me because it's the way I feel about Him.....  This particular devotional was written by Pam Kidd:

"I am standing face-to-face with the 'Adoration of the Magi' by the Dutch painter Hieroonymus Bosch, but instead of feeling exhiliration, I'm feeling fairly flat.

My husband David and I are visiting the Prado Museum in Madrid and after viewing a good number of the thousands of paintings,  from Rubens to Velazquez to Goya, I'm far from inspired.  In fact, I'm confused.   From Raphael's 'Holy Family' to El Greco's 'Adoration of the Shepherds', I'm just not smelling the hay.   It seems that artists from the Renaissance forward were intent on gilding the Nativity and all that followed.

I, for one, have little need of a gold-leafed Jesus.  I need an on-the-ground example to follow, someone who tells me how to get by in this world with all its greed and sharp edges.  Mother Mary in a lavishly embroidered robe and Joseph with an ornate staff aren't helping.  I need to remember the donkey and the rough-hewn stable.

David explains to me that the great artists painted the way their patrons paid them to paint.  The thought makes me more uncomfortable than ever.  Just as surely as those artists turned the hay to gold in ther paintings, sometimes I have a tendencey to bend Jesus' teachings to fit my comfort zone.  Feeding the hungry and caring for the homeless are great ideas - just don't inconvenience me to make it happen!

Outside the museum, the day is bright.  The art was beautiful, but, for me, it was the personal message that was truly profound.  This I know: A gilded Jesus doesn't work.  I need to go back to the Book and study His teachings.  I need to do what He says.

Already, I'm beginning to smell the hay.  Father, take me back to the manger.  Show me Your way."

I (this is Sherrye talking now) think Jesus had a humble beginning so most of us could feel a connection with him.  If He had come in all his splendor, we would have shied away.  I have seen Jesus once and felt him constantly in my life, but the one time I saw Him, he was dressed in a burlap-type "robe" with a hemp rope tied around his waist.  No shoes.  Instant PEACE!