merryhillacres
WEEK ??? - MANGER - 2016
The pastor of my cowboy church in Florida preached yesterday about how we view the scene where Jesus was born - a cozy little stable with a soft bed of hay in a manger. He put it in a more realistic perspective though, explaining that all those years ago they might not have had cozy little barns and nice mangers like we do today. The barn very well could have been like a cave type place, with clay floors and walls, and the manger was possibly just a dug out spot in the floor - cold and damp. The lighting was probably only a candle or a torch. The barn, or stable, was probably smelly from all the animals and possibly had rats and feces everywhere. The hay might have been more like straw and not the fine farmed hay that we have today. This really opened my eyes up to what it might have really been like - that Mary and Joseph didn't have the BEST accommodations to have a child, most probably not like a sterile hospital that people have babies in today. If they could make do back in their day, we surely could do with a lot less nowadays. The world has gotten so materialistic and focused on money. Imagine roughing it, like Mary and Joseph did, and delivering a child in a cold, damp, dark, dirty place. We're spoiled! Thank you, Jesus, for providing us with all the opportunities and provisions we have today. Please keep me from taking it for granted and always remind me of the fact that you suffered on the cross for me. Amen
WEEK ??? - MANGER - 2016
The pastor of my cowboy church in Florida preached yesterday about how we view the scene where Jesus was born - a cozy little stable with a soft bed of hay in a manger. He put it in a more realistic perspective though, explaining that all those years ago they might not have had cozy little barns and nice mangers like we do today. The barn very well could have been like a cave type place, with clay floors and walls, and the manger was possibly just a dug out spot in the floor - cold and damp. The lighting was probably only a candle or a torch. The barn, or stable, was probably smelly from all the animals and possibly had rats and feces everywhere. The hay might have been more like straw and not the fine farmed hay that we have today. This really opened my eyes up to what it might have really been like - that Mary and Joseph didn't have the BEST accommodations to have a child, most probably not like a sterile hospital that people have babies in today. If they could make do back in their day, we surely could do with a lot less nowadays. The world has gotten so materialistic and focused on money. Imagine roughing it, like Mary and Joseph did, and delivering a child in a cold, damp, dark, dirty place. We're spoiled! Thank you, Jesus, for providing us with all the opportunities and provisions we have today. Please keep me from taking it for granted and always remind me of the fact that you suffered on the cross for me. Amen