Wishing You Joy… Because of Him
I’ve been taking a break from words this week. I’ve been trying to listen more and talk less. Trying to focus more on their words- on the stories and musings, the songs and proclamations that flow from the mouths of my five sweet gifts, all filling our home with happy noise this week.
Perhaps, more importantly, I’ve been trying to listen for HIS Words— the whispers of my stable-born King as He ushers me from the clatter of Christmas to the chiming of the new year. I prefer to move into a new year with a still soul. But to be still, I sometimes need to just stop. Stop the writing and musing, the describing and telling. Because, honestly, my own words–the scattered strings of nouns and verbs that never sleep–can become my greatest obstacle to hearing the Lord.
So, I will end 2011 in quiet. And by God’s grace, I will be back with fresh words in the new year. But today, I wanted to let the youngest writer in my home fill this space with words. Hannah penned this simple story at school one day before Christmas vacation began. When I read her precious re-telling of the nativity, my eight-year-old’s unedited wonder left me in tears. For in truth, we are all servants forever changed because of Jesus.
May your new year and your entire life-even this VERY MOMENT- be marked by JOY because Christ has come!
The Servant Girl’s Tale
by Hannah Bruxvoort, age 8
Once upon a time, there was a young lady, who was a servant girl in Bethlehem. Her mistress and master were busy, for they ran an inn in the ancient town of King David. Their work seemed endless since Caesar Augustus had declared a census. Their little town was brimming with travelers waiting to be counted. Weary people and animals crammed into Bethlehem seeking a place to stay.
A pregnant lady came to the inn one night and said she was ready to give birth. The baby was coming! But the inn keeper refused to let her in. “There’s no room for you,” he said as he looked at her bulging tummy.
“Please,” the young woman’s husband pleaded. “The baby is coming soon.”
And so, with a sigh, the inn keeper sent the young couple to the stable for shelter.
The inn keeper’s daughters were feeding the goats and the guests. Some were down at the river washing the linens, so the young servant girl was asked to help the Mistress tend to the pregnant traveler. The servant girl rushed to the barn with rags and an apple. The young traveler was moaning and the apple was for her cries.
It was hot in the land of Behtlehem, town of David, but the wet cold rags would take care of that. The servant girl stood by the young woman for what felt like hours. Then the girl ran to the well, for the rags were drying up. She ran quickly back for the lady having labor, because she was having the baby now!
A bright star shone above the stable, the servant girls’ humble stable! Finally the baby was out! Something silverish shined around the little one, as if angels above had surrounded the tiny babe. The servant girl looked in the infant’s eyes. He looked like a prince. The travelers named him, Yeshua. Jesus. His name tells it all, the servant girl thought: the Lord Saves.
Suddenly, the lowly servant girl began to cry. It was as if her happiness had finally come, and her sadness had been washed away. Washed away as white as snow. And every day since then, since that very moment, she had joy.
