Do you have a manger?

This week I received a phone call. On the other end of the phone was a woman who asked me, ?Would your church be willing to give Bethany a prayer shawl?? As she spoke I felt the tears streaming down from her eyes. I felt the pain she was feeling in her heart for the family who had lost their baby of 3 ½ months. I felt her seeking to reach out to the mother and father with love. I felt her wanting to share the mother?s and father?s pain ? loss ? sorrow ... grief. I felt her taking within her the mother?s grief. I felt her laying her head in the manger of the mother?s and father?s hearts. I heard her wanting to share the following poem with the mother and father who had lost their son.

?I cry when a tear rolls down your cheek

I agonize when you weep

I know that you question,

I know that you pray

That you scream at night in your sleep.

I?m aware of your quavering voice when you speak

Of your blank, straightforward stare

I know of your pain, your depression, your guilt

That you search for a ?face? everywhere.

I watch as you walk with your head bowed low

With despair written over your face.

I hear the quick sigh, the internal cry

I know how you wearily pace.

I see how you search for a sign, for some hope

That the light will still shine in your life

I know how you live, I know that you die

From the harsh words that wound like a knife.

I empathize most with your loneliness now

Even though you?re not always alone

I see the rapture as you speak your child?s name

For I?ve lost a son of my own.? (from Charmaine Stickel)

I share this with you with the hope that all mothers and fathers will experience Christ being born in their manger ? in their darkness ? in their gloom. I share this with you with the hope that every mother and father will experience Christ sharing their grief; with the hope that they will experience the warmth of God?s healing love. I share this with you with the hope that the Christmas story will not be a story of the past but your personal story.