Bringing the Story of Christ’s Birth to Life

Many times during the winter months when we have chores to do at the barn for our heifer calves, my mind is full of wonderment about our barn.

 

It was built by my husband’s great grandfather in 1914 and is three stories tall. I love admiring the markings left from the tools that made the timbers square-shaped.

Especially during this time of year the Kirk barn makes me think about Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Bethlehem and the barn where Our Savior was born. I get sentimental about this place anyway because it’s also where my husband and I got married

and the cross placed on the barn for our ceremony is still there; greeting us every day when we show up to do chores.

Prior to Christmas, my time spent at the barn taking care of the chores for our animals always brings the story of Jesus to life for me. It’s the one time of day I feel most peaceful during the busy Christmas season and is a time of reflection for me.

While scooping buckets of feed and carrying them down the rickety steps to be ready for the next day, I can’t help but think about the similar conditions with which Mary and Joseph had no other choice but to take. I notice the little details of our barn and imagine the little details of the story of Jesus’ birth and the stable of his birth: the temperature, weather, the conversations between Mary and Joseph, their weariness, the smell of hay and livestock, the stillness of the night, the humidity in the barn, all the improvising they had to do; just all the little details. Downstairs our barn has a wooden manger

and stalls and dirt floors

which I imagine was a very similar environment for the infant Jesus and his parents.

I hope you have a special place you can go to, even if it’s just in your mind, where you can slow down and absorb all the little details of what it was like the day Jesus was born. Blessings from my family to yours for a Merry Christmas.