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Dear Friends,
The holy season is upon us. In the spirit of giving, and in thanks to you all, I want to share with you a poem I wrote a number of years ago, that has been used in surprising ways since it's first publication (including Jan Karon's use of it in her Mitford series). It could have been said better, I know, but the truth of this birth---in both places---has once again scoured and devastated me. Exactly what I needed. I hope the same for you.
Let the Stable Still Astonish
Let the stable still astonish.
Straw–dirt floor, dull eyes,
Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;
Crumbling, crooked walls;
No bed to carry that pain,
And then, the child,
Rag-wrapped, laid to cry
In a trough.
Who would have chosen this?
Who would have said: “Yes,
Let the God of all the heavens and earth
Be born here, in this place?
Who but the same God
Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms
Of our hearts
And says, “Yes,
Let the God of Heaven and Earth
Be born here –
In this place.
----Leslie Leyland Fields
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