The Straw in the Christmas Crib
When the shepherds of Bethlehem visited the Infant Jesus, one of the younger
boys took along some straw from the crib. “What have you got there in your
hand?” asked one of the shepherds.
“Just some straw from the crib where the baby was sleeping.” “Straw?”
laughed the others. “That’s just rubbish. Throw it away.” The little boy
shook his head and said, “No. I’m keeping it. These pieces of straw remind
me of that baby, and what the angels said about him.”
The next day the shepherds asked the boy, “Do you still have those pieces of
straw? You do? Look! Why don’t you throw away that worthless stuff?” ” No,
it is not worthless,” said the little shepherd. “God’s baby has slept on
it.” “So what?” the others answered. “It’s the baby that is important and
not the straw.”
“That’s where you’re all wrong,” explained the little shepherd. “This straw
IS worth something. If there were no straw in the crib, what could the poor
baby have slept on? No, this handful of straw tells me something. It tells
me that God makes use of small worthless things. God needs us, little
people, to help him do his work.”
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