Ever had a chicken end up under the Christmas tree?
To our consternated questions of why this black and white dappled chicken was running around our livingroom and flapping over the presents under the Christmas tree, we received the answer that she had accidentally fallen into the water bucket in the pen and needed to dry off.
Last time a chicken got wet like that, she ended up frozen next morning.
So the children brought this one into the house to dry off!
Poor thing got put into a box to keep her out of trouble.
We'd rather be under a Christmas tree any day--than shut up in a box somewhere drying off wet and ruffled feathers.
Or fur.
Life's storms take us sometimes by surprise.
The winds howl, and the snow flies 60 miles an hour through the air, and ice chunks slide off the roof, and the new trampoline guard poles break in the fierce wind.
The wind whips the bird feeder and the birds have all hidden away somewhere.
Drifts pile up in front of your car and you feel like you have no way out.
You can hardly see the bluffs out the window, out beyond the amarillys bud,
out where the blizzard winds whip white everywhere you look.
And you take comfort that even the Maker and Creator of the Universe,
the One Who stills storms,
Himself took refuge in a stable,
just like the one Sam herded the new little calf into to take shelter from the stormy winds.
Does a chicken belong under the Christmas tree?
And does a Babe belong in a manger?
He takes the things that are backwards and mixed up and upside down and topsy turvy,
and makes something beautiful out of them.
The Word became flesh, and the Words still live--
even when a tired mom finds herself awake instead of asleep--and kneels down by a chair in the
light of the Christmas tree in the middle of the night.
She finds herself then reading about the virtuous woman in Proverbs, whose candle goes not out by night.
who speaks words of kindness, who watches over her family and never wastes her time,
who knows that what she makes is good (whether it be a garment for Christmas, or a meal, or a baby, or a story or a plan)
who looks forward to the future with joy.
There are little chickens in the rafters of your wooden stable, too! Just perfect!
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