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MARANTHA!! Even so, come LORD JESUS!!!
As my CHRISTmas greeting to ALL of you, I would like to use your imagination. Please be patient and forgiving, I don't have anything but this phone, and can't find any place that I can write and correct a text file on this thing.
Let's take our imagination on a little trip to that very first CHRISTmas.....
So, the day had been nothing special for Hannah, she had been out in the fields with the flock of sheep her father kept. Since there were no male children in the family, at 9 years old her father had given her the sole responsibility for taking care of the flock. Previously he had taken her with him since the age of 5 to teach her the needs and demands of caring for the animals. In addition to her guardianship of the sheep, there were also 4 huge dogs that helped her guard and alerted her to any danger. As well, there was a stout donkey that was allowed to circulate amount the sheep, but for the most part had been trained to stay close to her to protect the sheep, but also to be available should she need to ride to safety, or to require back-up to the dogs or her own defenses of staff, and a sling and a mace, which she was still learning to use. The muscles in her arms were only beginning to be able to swing the mace or rotate the ball on the end, when she would rotate it above her head, as her father had taught her.
In the field, near her, there were deer and other animals, including some that were quite ferocious. There were large wolves and even the occasional lion, though those were rare this close to the village. The bears, who were also very dangerous were hibernating, so she was at least spared that concern. She watched, as several deer came forward and wound their way through the herd toward the spring that flowed and the clear fresh water where Hannah had settled for the past few days, allowing the sheep to graze and drink in this lush field.
The deer were used to the presence of Hannah and the sheep, so they readily approached and nibbled on the bushes growing by the spring. Hannah also sensed the presence of a wolf, at least one, and the dogs began to growl and warn the creature away from their charges of fluffy sheep. Yet, still the predator skunk on the far outskirts of the meadow, staying within the trees that grew on the hill.
She pulled her robe and furs around her more tightly as she lay on the ground beneath a thorn tree. It was cold tonight, and she had trouble keeping her eyes open because she was so sleepy.... To combat this sleepiness, she built the fire up, but that didn't help, because she got warm and her eyes just could not stay open! She was soon sleeping in a light slumber, which would allow her to awaken if there was any trouble.
As she slept, a huge and very bright star rose on the horizon in the east. She was awakened by the light, but also by voices. Strangely enough, she was also hearing singing. She would often sing to her sheep, but she had never heard voices like these. They were beyond any beauty she had ever heard. As her eyes cleared from the crust of sleep, she rubbed them again, as there also looked to be some kind of people in the air above her and that is who was singing!!
Frightened by what appeared to be some kind of people who were in the air above the Earth, Hannah drew the furs she wore over her head to hide from these strange beings. But the song they were singing and the glory of their voices caused her to cautiously look from behind her cloak. They were MAGNIFICENT!!! And the sky all around them was golden and glowing. They were singing about GOD and a baby, who they declared had been born in Bethlehem......just a short way from where Hannah was standing with her sheep!!! And the being said they were ANGELS, and brought good news. And they even told her to come see this baby!!
Unable to resist, Hannah called up the small herd and set out for the village if Bethlehem. The dogs, the donkey, the sheep and she, all walked together, as though the animals had understood what the angels had been singing and what they had said too!!!
Hannah was excited to see this baby, who the angels had said was the KING of ISRAEL and the SON OF GOD!!! She wondered to herself how could GOD have a son, and since her family was Jewish, she knew this could not be true since there was only one GOD, YAHWEH. Yet something inside her spirit rejoiced and leapt within her, at this message. The animals seemed to feel it too, as even the old sheep scurried along and didn't swaddle behind like they normally did. She never had to poke or prod a single one of them! And the new lambs leapt and pranced as they always did, but did not stray from the path as they normally would in their playful butting and dancing.
The miles passed quickly as they, as well as other shepherds and their flocks, joined them until the road was crowded and a dust rose up from the tread of many sheep, who all seemed to know the way they were headed. The other shepherds, known to be a silent lot, whispered amongst each other, about what they had seen and heard, and all, being Hebrew, knew there was only YAHWEH, but they all had that look of eagerness to see that child the beings had sung about. In the far reaches if their memories, several could remember from Torah classes, that prophets had said there was a miraculous leader to be born out of the lineage of KIng David.
Let's take our imagination on a little trip to that very first CHRISTmas.....
So, the day had been nothing special for Hannah, she had been out in the fields with the flock of sheep her father kept. Since there were no male children in the family, at 9 years old her father had given her the sole responsibility for taking care of the flock. Previously he had taken her with him since the age of 5 to teach her the needs and demands of caring for the animals. In addition to her guardianship of the sheep, there were also 4 huge dogs that helped her guard and alerted her to any danger. As well, there was a stout donkey that was allowed to circulate amount the sheep, but for the most part had been trained to stay close to her to protect the sheep, but also to be available should she need to ride to safety, or to require back-up to the dogs or her own defenses of staff, and a sling and a mace, which she was still learning to use. The muscles in her arms were only beginning to be able to swing the mace or rotate the ball on the end, when she would rotate it above her head, as her father had taught her.
In the field, near her, there were deer and other animals, including some that were quite ferocious. There were large wolves and even the occasional lion, though those were rare this close to the village. The bears, who were also very dangerous were hibernating, so she was at least spared that concern. She watched, as several deer came forward and wound their way through the herd toward the spring that flowed and the clear fresh water where Hannah had settled for the past few days, allowing the sheep to graze and drink in this lush field.
The deer were used to the presence of Hannah and the sheep, so they readily approached and nibbled on the bushes growing by the spring. Hannah also sensed the presence of a wolf, at least one, and the dogs began to growl and warn the creature away from their charges of fluffy sheep. Yet, still the predator skunk on the far outskirts of the meadow, staying within the trees that grew on the hill.
She pulled her robe and furs around her more tightly as she lay on the ground beneath a thorn tree. It was cold tonight, and she had trouble keeping her eyes open because she was so sleepy.... To combat this sleepiness, she built the fire up, but that didn't help, because she got warm and her eyes just could not stay open! She was soon sleeping in a light slumber, which would allow her to awaken if there was any trouble.
As she slept, a huge and very bright star rose on the horizon in the east. She was awakened by the light, but also by voices. Strangely enough, she was also hearing singing. She would often sing to her sheep, but she had never heard voices like these. They were beyond any beauty she had ever heard. As her eyes cleared from the crust of sleep, she rubbed them again, as there also looked to be some kind of people in the air above her and that is who was singing!!
Frightened by what appeared to be some kind of people who were in the air above the Earth, Hannah drew the furs she wore over her head to hide from these strange beings. But the song they were singing and the glory of their voices caused her to cautiously look from behind her cloak. They were MAGNIFICENT!!! And the sky all around them was golden and glowing. They were singing about GOD and a baby, who they declared had been born in Bethlehem......just a short way from where Hannah was standing with her sheep!!! And the being said they were ANGELS, and brought good news. And they even told her to come see this baby!!
Unable to resist, Hannah called up the small herd and set out for the village if Bethlehem. The dogs, the donkey, the sheep and she, all walked together, as though the animals had understood what the angels had been singing and what they had said too!!!
Hannah was excited to see this baby, who the angels had said was the KING of ISRAEL and the SON OF GOD!!! She wondered to herself how could GOD have a son, and since her family was Jewish, she knew this could not be true since there was only one GOD, YAHWEH. Yet something inside her spirit rejoiced and leapt within her, at this message. The animals seemed to feel it too, as even the old sheep scurried along and didn't swaddle behind like they normally did. She never had to poke or prod a single one of them! And the new lambs leapt and pranced as they always did, but did not stray from the path as they normally would in their playful butting and dancing.
The miles passed quickly as they, as well as other shepherds and their flocks, joined them until the road was crowded and a dust rose up from the tread of many sheep, who all seemed to know the way they were headed. The other shepherds, known to be a silent lot, whispered amongst each other, about what they had seen and heard, and all, being Hebrew, knew there was only YAHWEH, but they all had that look of eagerness to see that child the beings had sung about. In the far reaches if their memories, several could remember from Torah classes, that prophets had said there was a miraculous leader to be born out of the lineage of KIng David.
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