Once upon a Maryland Manger

Once upon a time in Maryland, in the 1920's there was a farm with lots of happy animals.

There was affection between the animals.

The horse whispered sweet nothings, "Brief is life but love is long..." after Sir Tennyson

It was a lazy good farm.

It had rolling hills and a big sky.

 Lonely cows wandered and mooed around the trees, nibbling on the grass and taking lazy naps in the shade on hot summer days.

Kitties would prowl the fields at dusk. This one, Bentley, on a leash lest a hawk pick up this meatball of a cat.

Deer loved prancing on the front lawn of the farmhouse.

In the winter, the cows would sit in their barn and look into the farmers beautiful house.

"Hi there!"

The farmer was a quiet man, like his cows, and didn't really care for people but his wife was nuts about socializing! Afterall, what good was it having a big beautiful farm house, the prettiest one in the county, if you couldn't show it off and have tons of people over and find out all of their business?

She wanted to know! Who was angry with who. Who was on the brink of a meltdown. Who was getting over a hospital stay. Who was looking for a wife/husband. It was great fun for her! She would collect apples and chop them to make a dozen apple pies while happily thinking of the juicy gossip to come!

The cows mooed in agony hearing her make preparations for the great Christmas Eve harvest of gossip for the year!

However, leading up to the party there was always chaos. It would start on Thanksgiving when his wife would order him to chop the turkeys neck. It was one of the hardest parts of the year! The turkey was so opinionated and knew what was going to happen.

Now I know why they named me "Tasty!"....

The turkey would escape each year and go squawking around the field bellowing at the top of his lungs for life!

Nevertheless, each year this is how the Holiday Spirit got started and the sullen cows watched from the view of their favorite tall tree while slowly chewing on their grass and sending positive thoughts of resistance to the Turkey.

"Tasty the Turkey, remember difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations..."

It was the years worst chore for the farmer to go lumbering and chasing the furious turkey then have to eat him on top of it.

Tasty indeed!

One year, the stars were especially clear and the Christmas Eve night was surprisingly warm, the cows heard the farmers wife cackling with friends at the annual party and they heard the friends intestines turning with one too many glasses of over-spiced eggnog (Eggnog does have that funny effect). The cows had enough, and deeply desired much needed silence in their minds and hearts, so as the sunset they wandered out of the barn into the pasture and all went to lay together at the base of a lone birch tree. It was their favorite tree.

Head north, boys.

 It was still and quiet, far from the party. Mama cows snuggled next to baby cows as they looked up at the big wide Maryland sky. All of the cows agreed in their big ol'cow hearts that this was a perfect night! They wished that one day this tree would remember this special night! The tree branches, naked for the winter, rustled and agreed that one day they would remember this night too.

All was calm and bright

A few decades past. The farmer died and went back to dust from where he came.

"Well, that was fast."

The cows also passed away. The farmers had his land was sold to developers who built family houses. The farm house stayed as the gem of the development.

The tree remarkably stayed put. He was waiting for a good moment! One summer, the owner of the one of the new developed houses and land came out to take a look at the tree and decided her house would look MUCH  fancier if she built a retaining wall around this majestic tree. So thousands of dollars were wasted invested on building a fantastic retaining wall. The tree looked down in sadness missing his natural roots and glory. The retaining wall was finished and all the neighbors came to stand around it to admire its beauty, its cost! The tree decided the moment arrived to play with nature and the stars and become small again. A few nights after the retaining wall was finished the sky was dark and still. A white burst of lighting struck through the sky and roared like a jet plane. The tree stretched its limbs way up high. The lighting reached its fingers down and danced all around the tree with sparks flying. The tree felt wonderful!

"Wooo! Our love is electric!"

They eventually held hands and BOOM! The entire neighborhood shook! And just like that the tree became many pieces of wood and let out a big laugh!

The next day the neighbors came to stand around it to admire the damage, its cost!

"At least 5 grand to cut that thing down!" grinned one of the smug neighbors

One neighbor saw some pieces of wood, picked up two little pieces and took it home in her pocket.

"Come home with me, tree..." she muttered

Chainsaws came out and lugged away the remaining chunks of lumber. But the tree smiled because he saw the little pieces of himself go away in that pocket.

At Christmas time she put up her manger and said to herself, "Baby Jesus needs a little bed! What shall I make him? Not a fancy one! He was born poor, lived poor and tells us to love poverty....shall I make him one with crafting supplies?" A little bag filled with her favorite river rocks and two pieces of little wood hopped around. "Ahhhhh!" She exclaimed as she pulled out a large sea shell and the two most perfect little pieces of wood. She was decorating with objects from nature to honor that all the ends of the earth would proclaim Him Holy...even sea shells from the sea, wheat from the fields and river stones from mighty rocks...

"Here is the perfect little bed for Baby Jesus of our Nativity to be born in." It was simple, it was poor, it was free.

"And Mary brought forth her first born Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for Him in the Inn." Luke 2:7 

I still can't wrap my head around how God's great love for us came in flesh to be with us in the form of a tiny vulnerable poor baby born in a barn since no one opened the door for him. His love is so great he could have been born to a wealthy Persian family and had a golden bassinet or never have lived to teach us how to live and just let us all rot in our meanness. What amazes me is His love for the lonely, the poor, the broken... He came with heart open and I hope that we can open the door to our hearts and let Him teach us love.