I heard recently that the shepherds back then were equivalent to the homeless people of today. They were the poorest of the poor. They didn’t have the plush robs we picture them with, the finest staffs, or a nice trailer nearby they could call their home.
When you think about that you wonder, “why the shepherds?” Sound familiar? It should because that is often what we say, “Why me? I’m nobody. I don’t have all the finest things in life. Why would God want me?”
Looking at the shepherds it just goes to prove God doesn’t need the finest of the fine to get a job done. He needs someone who is willing to listen, do, and be amazed at what God has to say.
A few days ago we had an eclipse of the moon we got to observe. I don’t know about you but when I stood outside looking at it I was amazed. What I was observing wasn’t a mistake of nature, neither were the sounds I heard from the owl hooting, the roosters crowing, the pigs grunting, and my grandkids yelling at me, “Grandma is cold out here.”
The angels weren’t out to find the first person awake that night to tell the good news to. It wasn’t a mistake the shepherds were chosen. They weren’t the last on the list, they were the first.
We too are God’s shepherds, people out there available to Him to listen to what He has to say and take action. The only requirement to be one is to be willing to look with open eyes instead of a closed heart. The shepherds got to see only the beginning of what God was just about to do and yet they were still amazed.
Too often we treat God like, “Well come back when the job is done, then I’ll see if I’m amazed.” The other day I confessed something to my 10-year-old granddaughter. As I spilled out my confession she looked at me as if I was a little on the nutty side. That is a fact they’ve known for years but to what degree they weren’t sure. I told her about a writing piece I wrote. It was about going to heaven and what it looked like and how amazingly wonderful it was in mind and all the things I imagined I would see and experience.
So far I’ve never seen God’s finished project of Heaven only the beginning of what He created on earth yet I can still be amazed. We need to stop worrying about whom we are or aren’t and what isn’t finished and start living our lives in the “amazed” cycle. Amazed at what God does for us on a daily basis knowing we aren’t a mistake, we may make mistakes but we are not a mistake of nature that just happened to be. We have our worth as the shepherds did and we need to use that to further the news about Jesus coming to town.
After all, it’s not Santa Claus that’s coming to town, it’s Jesus. Spread the word! Finest of the fine, poorest of the poor, it doesn’t matter God wants us all. Listen as the shepherds did that night and get ready to live in the “amazed” cycle of life.
© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing
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