We All Belong


As I walked along among the yards all dressed up for Christmas, I came upon this giraffe. Some little one no doubt dropped it out of their stroller as the family made a trip around the block. I’m sure someone misses this cute little whatever it is. It captured my attention because one in Texas does not usually expect to find a giraffe amidst the snowmen, reindeer, Santas, and penguins. I like the idea of a giraffe coming to the manger or singing with the angels. I really like the idea of shepherds tending their flocks of giraffes by night. ( Or, to be more precise, tending their towers of giraffes by night.)
As I walked away, i found myself thinking of the ways and times I have felt I didn’t belong. I imagine all of us have been in that spot once or twice. We don’t seem to get the joke. We haven’t seen the show everyone’s talking about. We don’t dress the same or like the same music or hold the same values. Our story is different, our appearance is different, our goals are different. We can’t afford to do what everyone else does. The list goes on and on and travels with us through all the birthdays of our lives. To not feel as if we fit in is an experience that ranges from simply awkward to painful and devastating.
That is one reason the story of this season is so powerful. It has shepherds and kings. It has an old, long married, childless couple and a young, unmarried couple both hearing news of babies on the way. It has praising angels and a King with murder on his mind. It has the darkness of night and a star that leads the way. Everything seems to come together in this one story, in this one moment in time. And there is a place for all. Somehow, they all belong. All have a role to play as the greatest Good News finds its way into the reality of this broken, fallen world.
We too, each one of us, can join in this story. We can take our place in the dark fields and beside the manger. We can bring what we have, whether extravagant gifts or humble praise. We can join in and find the Good News that God’s love includes us. Best of all, we can know the peace that comes with belonging. Even if we have spent our life feeling like a giraffe at Christmas.
Peace.


 

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