the stable floor.

The fullness of time had come!

The Savior would be born!

Joseph and Mary, at the crowded inn,

sought provision of their urgent need,

and what they heard would try

the strongest faith. There was no room -

but a stable lay nearby.

(In that large, mingled crowd could

one have said, “Come, take my room

and I will take the stable floor?”)

As night wore one, the weary travelers

found comfort in their resting place.

And Mary? Was it some clean-swept space

with pad of straw, where she labored through

her deepening night to bring forth

the Savior of a needy, sin-scarred world?

Times have not changed.

Exigencies still come; the crowds still flow.

And there will always be the ones who search

for peace, but make no room for God.

While others choose the hallowed walk

of faith, and will graciously accept earth’s

lowly “stable floors” – if God so wills –

that the Savior may be born anew

in hearts throughout the world.

- Velma D. Collins, The Stable Floor