JOYFUL POST #76

All will be well...

Image by HiyoriX, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. [1]

The night’s silence, like a deep lamp, is burning with the light of its milky way.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

Continuing to meditate on the Nativity set that I assembled, I turn my attention to two shepherds that face each other.

After a long day spent keeping the sheep together through the rolling landscape of Judea they settled the flock down. They sat to rest, eat, and refresh themselves under a magnificent night sky denied to many of us in this light-polluted 21st century.

And then all heaven broke loose, at least according to Luke 2:8-20.

An angel appeared in a spectacular light show with a transformative message for them in that forgotten backwater of the Roman Empire wherein they spent their days: they mattered and the Messiah that they had heard about was newly born nearby. And to top it all, their vision concluded with an amazing choral performance that they considered heavenly.

Did those events happen in the imaginal realm or outside Bethlehem, where nothing of note ever happened?

What I am mulling over is the phenomenal joy that must have gripped their hearts, regardless of the realm in which the shepherds found themselves. In their hearts and minds, could they have moved from being nobodies to being creatures treasured by the Creator?

Today we cringe as powerful politicians and oligarchs gleefully anticipate taking over our lives. But are we not as treasured by the Creator as the lowly shepherds were?

Rejoice! Act honestly, compassionately, and kindly towards all.

All will be well.

20241208

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