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No part of the Christmas story is told with more gusto and enthusiasm than the story of the shepherds who watched their flocks by night.  It is a story of night mystery and nocturnal mayhem.  The mystery is all over the story with the appearance of the angels and the mayhem surely took place when they those scared out of their wits shepherds ran to Bethlehem leaving their sheep unattended in the field.  It is also a story which places the unexpected on center stage.  Two poor young people are the parents of the Holy Child and the first visitors are bottom dwellers in the social world.    

Over the years of watching so many live nativity scenes, I have come to understand the children have the most fun being shepherds.  There is something about their persona and their presence which captivates the imagination of the young actors who present themselves.   The truth is the shepherds are all of us.  There is nothing exceptional about them.  They are just ordinary common folks.   As they show up in the story in such a prominent way, we are reminded that Christ came for those of us who see ourselves mirrored in those shepherds.  

They surely walked away humbled that they had seen the Lord.  They left with a story they surely never tired of telling.  They saw the Christ child and worshiped Him.  Their lives would never be the same again.  May we never lose the wonder of the moment of the Christ child being born and the joy of the shepherds in seeing Him again and again in our lives.