BY STEVE DUNN
"'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'" - Micah 5.2
I was making a quick shopping trip after church. Dianne and I were working on our Christmas decorating and we needed some small items. We slipped into Michael's, the craft store, to pick up what we needed. We found what we needed quickly and then headed to the checkout line. The clerk was not nondescript. She had a quasi Goth look, with some well-placed rings about her nose and mouth. But her perkiness belied the often sullen approach that other Gothic folks take towards people who were dressed more suitably for a fine restaurant and old enough to be her grandparents.
"How are you today?" she asked, genuinely interested. She laughingly engaged us in a friendly conversation that created some encouraging and pleasant exchanges. And then she concluded the conversation with some words that many big-time retailers have banished. "Have a merry Christmas."
I walked to the parking lot very much surprised and definitely uplifted.
Did you ever have such an experience? Something or someone that you might ordinarily overlook surprises you with a side of them that you normally would have looked for elsewhere? And that surprise was a blessing?
Bethlehem was just such a place in the political and social landscape of Judea but Micah prophesied it would b the birthplace of the Savior all humankind.
In the economy of God, His greatest of work is done by the least of these.
Perhaps this Advent, instead of looking for the glitter, the glamour and the spectacular to celebrate this Good News, you need to turn your eyes towards unlikely people and places and see just what God will send.
(C) 2015 by Stephen L Dunn
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