The baby in a feeding trough: A Secret of the Manger
This is Day 20 of the “Wild Kids, Wild God – Looking into God’s Heart Series“
A “manger” is sad place to put a baby in any era. The word comes from French, manger (mahn-shay), which means, “to eat.” Indeed, Jesus’ crib was a feeding trough, filled with food scraps and leftovers–things we probably would call trash.
If you’ve ever been treated like crap, rejected, looked down upon, spoken ill of, if you ever felt like you deserved better but instead got worse, please know, what happened to you matters
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But didn’t Jesus deserve a palace? After all, he got his very own Star! Alas, God was determined to identify 100% with Mankind: not just live among us, but get knee deep in our M.e.s.s. .(btw, Im betting we all got a star…)
God loves using symbolism and I wondered, Why the barn? Why a feeding trough?
Don’t Carry a Thing…Not Even Anxiety
A friend posted on Facebook that a store clerk offered to carry her single loaf of bread to the car. Was he trying to get a tip? I was skeptical, but apparently he genuinely wanted to help.
And it occurred to me: if this young man’s heart was tender enough to want to carry a loaf of bread for a stranger, how much more- and heavier things does God want to carry for us? Cares, anxieties, fears.. the stuff that keeps me up at night or makes me want to quit..
Cinderella: How to Keep Hope in Despair
It was a big deal. My kids were watching the Disney classic, Cinderella for the first time. I sat with them, enjoying the nostalgia and reliving the story. Can you imagine a life with that oppression and injustice…? Being a slave in your own home?
Isn’t this happening to all Humanity at this time…?
And then the dramatic scene where the sisters rip her dress to shreds. Cinderella runs to the garden, weeping and in despair. The whole atmosphere changed in our house.
“Wild Kids, Wild God : 31 Days Looking into God’s Heart” [Start Here!]
Welcome! This is part of a #Write31Days Challenge whereby I hope to write a post each day (atleast, that’s the plan). But I’m not so good at doing anything ‘daily’ except waking up, so this is a challenge indeed! (Grace Please!)
Topic: “Wild Kids, Wild God: 31 Days of Looking into God’s Heart.”
Pearl and Mother of Pearl – You are God’s Magnum Opus
Pearl formation is a mysterious process, and despite our scientific advances we’ve yet to create one outside the “womb” of an oyster.* Reflecting on this and our relationship with God (with the hope of not sounding blasphemous on one side, or religious on the other) here are some thoughts:
On the surface, God, like the Oyster, may seem Hard: rigid rules, drastic consequences… a distant and frightening God. But cut the oyster open and you discover something Soft—God’s Heart is more tender than we dared to dream…
Life like Contractions
Things are going well. You got some sleep, had a moment to shower and are about to start the day. Then it begins…..pressures piling up, minute by minute, moment by moment.
The kids are yelling and whining- each about something different, the baby is crying upstairs for milk, your husband is in bed sick, quick–take a deep breath before you lose it!..