Perfect Place

coincidentally
it was just the right size
and it was the cleanest place
in the stable

the hay was fresh

warm
sweet smelling

it was perfect

for the little chap
though not what Joseph had thought
his carpenter’s hands
might fashion for the boy
but under the circumstances
it would have to do

he took the child

from the breast
and laid him in the feeding trough

and the new little life

who had turned the man’s world
upside down
rested
sleeping the sleep
of newborns everywhere

together

the new mum and dad
watched him
marvelled at him
felt their love
rise up for him
and wondered
what the future
held for him

God had come good

God had provided
just as the angel
said he would

somehow they too

ordinary though they were
somehow they too
were now part of
God’s unfolding purposes and plans
just like Abraham and Isaac
like David and all the prophets
their story
was now part of God’s story
would be told
and re-told
generation after generation
just like the scriptures they had learned
at their mother’s knee

once again

as with the manna in the desert years
God had provided

and as the new

and nervous parents
talked of
the wonder of these things
they sensed
for a brief moment
the faintest whisper of a smile
on the face of the baby

the one who was to call himself

in later years
the Bread of Life
rested
in a feeding trough

it was

the perfect place

.