---That First Christmas ~~

--"And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.' --

--I WAS heading to church the day of the Christmas pageant. I had that sweet sense of anticipation, thinking of that fun it would be. It always is. Mary and Joseph, the baby in a manger, the kids dressed as shepherds and wise men and angels--some of them decked out in floppy ears with fluffy tails to take their roles as sheep, baaing their way down the center aisle.

I stepped onto the subway, glad to get a seat--there seemed to be several empty seats right around me. As soon as I sat down I realized why. The scruffy-looking homeless guy opposite me, hunched down beneath a black parka, a bag at his feet, and and certain stench coming my way. Oh Great. The perfect thing to disrupt my Christmas joy.. I could have used a little frankincense and myrrh right then then to sweeten the air.

Then I thought again of the first Christmas. What would the shepherds have looked like or smelled like? After all, they spent their days and nights watching sheep. How often did they get to bathe? They wouldn't have dressed in fancy clothes. And yet they were they were the first, among the chosen few, to hear the good news, called to the baby's side. Like me. Like all of us.

The guy looked up from his hoodie and we exchanged a few glances. "Merry Christmas," I said. "God bless," he said. I gave him some cash from my pocket before I got off the train.

This years' pageant was surely the best one ever...until next year. ~~

"Lord, there is a part for all of us to play in Your story. Shepherds, wise men, Mary, Joseph, we're all called to honor You. Show us how to be a light shining for your glory. "

--Guideposts/RH~