Luk 2:20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Every one of us could probably tell the Christmas story. We know it well. A young virgin named Mary conceives a child by the Holy Spirit. She and her betrothed, Joseph, travels to Bethlehem by order of the emperor. While there she gives birth in a manger because there is no room in the inn. Heavenly lights flood the earth, angels announce the good news. Shepherds leave the fields and their flocks to come see the newborn baby. Everyone is praising God.
There is another part of the story that we do not often hear or tell. When the angels stop singing and go back into heaven, the shepherds return to the fields. Mary and Joseph gather their things, pick up Jesus, and travel back home . The manger is left empty, the sky is dark and silent and the shepherds are again living in the fields keeping watch over their flocks.
In a couple of days or so, our family and friends will have returned to their homes. The leftovers will be thrown out, decorations will be taken down and bills will be coming in.The kids will be back in school and parents back at work. Like the shepherds, we will return to the fields and flocks of our lives; to the routine of daily life. Everything will look like it was before the birth.
However, that does not signal the end of Christmas.The Christmas story begins when Jesus is born in our hearts ; That’s when our lives becomes the story. As we resume normalcy, may the transformation that come after the Bethlehem experience become evident in our lives. The miracle of Christmas is in you. The invisible God is now seen in a human face. The eternal Word is now spoken by a human tongue (Michael K. Marsh )
Further readings:
1Cor 15:49
1Pet 1:23
1 Joh 3:9
🙏 🍇Merry Christmas🌲 🙏