Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Treasure (12/15/03)
TITLE: Immaterial By Holly Payne 12/21/03 |
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT SEND ARTICLE TO A FRIEND |
But now in the darkness of my cozy home, safe from the icy wind outside and from the hustle and bustle of the other shoppers who were no worse than me, I sit here and think of how silly it all is. The tree I haven’t decorated yet will be out of the house by New Year’s Day. The presents I haven’t wrapped yet will be unadorned, unboxed, maybe even used up or broken in less than a week. And the Love I have been missing will live on, flourishing if I nourish it, but sitting aside silently and patiently even if I don’t acknowledge it. As these thoughts ramble together in my winter-tired brain, like puzzle pieces they fall into the image of a musty stall in a stable one night some two thousand years ago.
That night, the closest thing to a diamond was the star shining over Bethlehem. The nearest thing to a bow was the knot tied hastily in swaddling clothes in an attempt to warm the moist new skin of a baby king. And the most precious treasure was not the gold or frankincense or myrrh, wrapped carefully by wise men of old. Indeed the most important thing was not a thing at all. Instead, the greatest treasure was the blood coursing through the tiny heart of a Promise, a Child, a Savior, asleep in a pile of hay.