The Christmas Geese

There was once a man
who didn't believe in God,
and he didn't hesitate to let others
know how he felt about religion
and religious holidays, like Christmas.
His wife, however,did believe, and she raised
their children to also have faith
in God and Jesus,
despite his disparaging comments.
One snowy Christmas Eve,
his wife was taking their children to a
Christmas Eve service in the farm
community in which they lived.
She asked him to come, but he refused.
"That story is nonsense!" he said.

"Why would God lower Himself to
come to Earth as a man?
That's ridiculous!"
So she and the children left,
and he stayed home.
A while later,
the winds grew stronger
and the snow turned into a blizzard.
As the man looked out the window,
all he saw was a blinding snowstorm.
He sat down to relax before
the fire for the evening.
Then he heard a loud thump.
Something had hit the window.
Then another thump.
He looked out,
but couldn't see more than a few feet.

When the snow let up a little,
he ventured outside to see
what could have been
beating on his window.
In the field near his house
he saw a flock of wild geese.
Apparently they had been flying
south for the winter when they got
caught in the snowstorm
and couldn't go on.
They were lost and stranded on his farm,
with no food or shelter.

They just flapped their wings and flew
around the field in low circles,
blindly and aimlessly.
A couple of them had flown
into his window, it seemed.
The man felt sorry for the geese
and wanted to help them.
The barn would be a great place
for them to stay, he thought.
It's warm and safe; surely they could
spend the night and wait out the storm.
So he walked over to the barn and
opened the doors wide,
then watched and waited,
hoping they would notice
the open barn and go inside.

The geese just fluttered around
aimlessly and didn't seem to notice
the barn or realize what it
could mean for them.
The man tried to get their
attention, but that just seemed to
scare them and they moved further away.
He went into the house and came back
out with some bread, broke it up,
and made a breadcrumbs
trail leading to the barn,
but they still didn't catch on.
Now he was getting frustrated.

He got behind them and tried to shoo
them toward the barn, but they
only got more scared and scattered
in every direction except toward the barn.
Nothing he did could get them to go into
the barn where they would be warm and safe.
"Why don't they follow me?!" he exclaimed.
"Can't they see this is the only place where
they can survive the storm?"

He thought for a moment and realized
that they just wouldn't follow a human.
"If only I were a goose, then I could save them,"
he said out loud. Then he had an idea.
He went into barn, got one of his own geese,
and carried it in his arms as he circled
around behind the flock of wild geese.
He then released it. His goose flew through
the flock and straight into the barn and
one by one the other geese followed it to safety!

He stood silently for a moment
as the words he had spoken a few
minutes earlier replayed in his mind:
"If only I were a goose, then I could save them!"
Then he thought about what
he had said to his wife earlier.
"Why would God want to be like us?
That's ridiculous!"

Suddenly it all made sense.
That is what God had done.
We were like the geese blind,
lost, and perishing.
God had His Son become like us so
He could show us the way and save us.
That was the meaning of CHRISTMAS,
he realized!
As the winds and blinding snow died down,
his soul became quiet and
pondered this wonderful thought.

Suddenly he understood what
Christmas was all about,
why Christ had come.
Years of doubt and disbelief vanished
like the passing storm.
He fell to his knees in the snow,
and prayed his first prayer:

"Thank You, God,
for coming in human form
to get me out of the storm!"

Merry Christmas to All!
And May you always be covered in God's pure love!

Thank you for visiting with me!


For more Christmas pages CLICK on back!

11-30-2004


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