Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Speaker 1

I'm Shawna On Joni Eareckson Tada sharing hope. And here's a Christmas memory from Joni. You know, my family used to raise horses back in Maryland. From the time I was a little girl, I knew what a manger was. The word "manger" was a common word around the barn; it was part of everyday language. When we were throwing hay to the horses, we'd haul a bale of hay in front of a stall, break it up, and heave it into the manger. Nothing special about that.

The mangers and the stalls of our barn were made of slatted boards and nailed to crossbeams. The whole triangular arrangement was nailed on the side of the stall. These mangers weren't pretty; they were functional. They were full of splinters, and we never thought much about the mangers in our stable stalls. They were just there to serve an ordinary purpose—holding hay.

At Christmas time, I always thought it was curious to read about the manger in the stable at Bethlehem. I'll never forget when one Christmas, suddenly that very ordinary wooden trough took on new meaning. I was heaving a big chunk of hay up into the wooden trough. When the hay dust settled, I paused, and for the first time, I really looked at that manger. This old bunch of boards nailed together is what everyone was talking about.

The manger tells us the kind of place for which God is looking to display his glory—not necessarily a place that's beautiful or appealing. It's not exceptional or extraordinary. No, God will set up housekeeping. God will birth his son in the lives of ordinary and, yes, even unappealing people. The manger teaches us that God is only looking for a heart that'll receive him, a place that'll hold him.

It also reminds us that God is not looking for perfection; he's just looking for availability. And we can be available. There is room in your heart stable. You just have to simply find it, prepare it, and make it available. The manger shows us that from the very first moments of Christ's life on earth, Jesus chose to identify with uncomfortable things, unconventional places, and ordinary people.

No one can ever accuse the Lord of not leaving his ivory palace to identify with our pain. The pain wasn't only reserved for the cross or even the dry, dusty travels on the road to Jerusalem. No, his life of discomfort began in the cradle. It began in the manger.

Speaker 2

Lo, in a manger. Dear little stranger, Jesus, the wonderful Savior was born. There was none to receive him, none to believe him, none. But the angels were watching that morn, dear little stranger.

Born in a manger, Maker and monarch and savior of all, I will love you forever. Grieve you? No, never. You did for me. Make your bed in a storm.

Dear little stranger, slept in a manger, no downy pillow under his head, but with the poor he slumbered secure, the dear little baby in his bed.

Speaker 1

A.

Speaker 2

Dear little babe in his bed.

Speaker 1

From all of us at Joni and friends, Merry Christmas.