Beast of Burden

When you think about Christmas what do you think of? For most people it is gifts and lights and family celebrations.

So many people seem to have forgotten why we celebrate Christmas. I want to take you back now to that cold night. Mary, was riding on the back of a donkey. A simple beast of burden carried this most precious of cargo. He had not eaten or rested, but was proud to perform his duty this winter night.

When it came time for her to be delivered, the donkey was amazed at the sight. Instead of his usual beastly cry he spoke for the first time “Truly God is now on earth”. Even he was shocked. The cows and the lambs bowed down before the holy child whose head was now adorned by a halo of light.

It was a magical night. A night that would never be forgotten. This was not the last task for the donkey however. Some thirty years later one of his sons would be called to duty for another important task. This time it was to carry Jesus to his final destination. That Sunday when palm leaves fell at his feet, was he aware that was Jesus’s last ride? Did he speak a final farewell to our Lord. That answer we will never know.

While there were a lot of people that crossed Jesus’s path, it was the donkey that played a role in both his birth and his death.

Have a wonderful and blessed Christmas.