If Only - the Christmas story
aka the Parable of the Birds
by anonymous
God born in a manager.
That beautiful story escapes some
people. More than likely it does so because they seek such
complex answers to their questions. And this one is so utterly
simple. So, for the cynics the skeptics and the unconvinced I
submit to you a modern day parable.
This is about a modern man, one of us. No, he was not a
Scrooge, but a kind, decent, mostly good man. He was generous to
his family, and upright with his dealings with other men. And now
he was looking forward to another Christmas season. However, he
did not believe in what he termed "all that incarnation stuff"
which churches proclaim at Christmas time. "It just did not make
sense" and he was honest. In his mind too honest to pretend
otherwise. He just could not swallow "that Jesus Story". The one
about God coming to earth as man. On Christmas Eve, he told his
wife, "I hate to disappoint you, but I just can not go to church
with you tonight." He said he would feel like a hypocrite, that
he had much rather stay home, but that he would wait up for
them. So he stayed at home and off the family went to church.
Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to
fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting
heavier and heavier, he then went back to his fireside chair and
began to read the newspaper. Minutes later he was startled by a
thudding sound, then another and another. At first he thought
someone must be throwing snowballs against the living room
window, but when he went to the door to investigate, he found a
flock of birds floundering miserably in the snow. They had been
caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter they
had tried to fly through the large picture window. Well, he could
not let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, then he
remembered the barn where his children kept their pony. That
would provide a warm shelter if he could direct the birds to it.
So he quickly put on a coat, his galoshes and trampled through
the deepening snow to the barn. Once there he opened the doors
wide and turned on a light, but the birds only ignored it. They
would not come in. He figured food would entice them in, and
hurried back to the house fetched bread crumbs and sprinkled them
on the snow making a trail to the yellow lighted doorway of the
stable. But to his dismay the birds ignored the crumbs they just
continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried
catching them, he tried shooing them into the barn by walking
around and furiously waving his arms. Instead they scattered in
every direction except into the warm lighted barn. Suddenly he
realized they were afraid of him, to them I'm a strange and
terrifying creature. If only I could think of someway to let
them know they can trust me so they'd understand that I'm not
trying to hurt them, but to help them. How? Any move he made
only serve to scare them and confuse them, they just would not
follow. They could not be lead or shooed because they feared
him. If only I could be a bird myself, he thought. If only I
could be a bird and mingle with them and speak their language and
tell them not to be afraid and show them the way to the warm and
safe barn. But, I'd have to be one of them so they could see and
hear and understand. At that moment the church bells began to
ring. The bells were ringing so loud that the sound reached his
ears above the sounds of the cold night wind. He stood there
listening to those bells: Adeste Fidelis. Listening to the bells
pealing their glad tidings of Christmas. And thinking about the
good news he understood. And this man sank to his knees in the
snow.
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