Today is the day chosen to commerate Jesus’s birth into this dark, danky fallen World. The very fact He was born in a cell-like livestock stable- outside of a comfortable inn where others were permitted entrance, but not Him is prophetic of how only the humble, simple heart aware of it’s uncleanliness can welcome our Lord. Other hearts more sure of themselves leave Him no entrance.

There ws no room for Him to be born in a cozy lit up heated inn, made comfortable for travellers, but His birth was permitted in the lowliest of places outside of the inn- the place where the travellers tied up their horses or mules for the night. A place whose hay contained insects and lice, and whose floors needed daily cleaning -because livestock don’t wait to be taken outside if they need to release a bowel movement. There was no where to lay Jesus after His birth, but Mary improvised as best she could and borrowed a feeding trough made of stone, filled it with hay and bundled Him in there to lay.

Like the grungy “manger”, our Lord only finds welcome in the simplest, lowliest hearts- in those who know they are lacking and see their need for Him and His light. He is so often shunned- however politely, by the heart full of self-pride and comforts, that fails to see their desperate need of Him. These hearts think themselves above the “cattle stalls” of life, but they too desperately need Him. One day they may see their need for Jesus in their hearts as well, when they realize how shallow their “Inns” were after all.

That donkey/horse stable became a peaceful haven of God’s True Light where the Prince of Peace resided. Mary and Joseph would not trade it for the World as the One they kept their eyes upon was with them in there.

Opening blindly Jesus’s recorded words in “He and I”, after asking Him, He gave me this:

“…Did you know that there are deep forests, unfathomable oceans, and mountain peaks unknown to man where secret blossomings are for My extravagance of glory? So it is the hidden life of a soul. No human being ever suspects it, but I offer it to Myself and it is there that I delight to be with the children of men. Oh, My little girl, let us always live together in the Valley of Tears, and I’ll lead you to My Heavenly Home, the New Jerusalem. There no one will ever take us from one another. There it will be the Eternal Now.”