The Empty Manger

A few years ago, my friend gave me a manger scene for Christmas. Each piece was individually wrapped and placed in a bag with a number on it, to be opened in sequence. On each bag was written a line from “The Nativity Song” in the Primary Children’s Songbook that coincided with its contents. Every year, this is the part of the countdown my children and I look forward to most.

We sing “The Nativity Song” and unwrap one bag each day, then place the piece in the stable. Every year, the cattle, oxen, shepherds, wise men, Joseph and Mary gather around the empty manger, waiting expectantly for the Christ child. I study this scene each year and wonder what would have happened if the manger stayed empty? I look at the small manger with its swaddling clothes lying bare on the straw, with no Christ child for it to cradle, and I rejoice each year as we unwrap the baby Jesus and place him gently in his place.

It is fitting that he is wrapped as if a gift, and that he is the last and most important piece of the scene, perfectly completing the peaceful picture. How empty would our lives be if his place in the manger had remained unfilled? A meaningless, cruel world would fill his spot in our hearts. Instead of that powerful source of hope and comfort, our mangers would be filled with sorrow and hopelessness. My heart is filled with gladness and gratitude that he chose to come to earth and fill that empty manger with his message of love and peace. May we all take a few moments each day this month to feel gratitude that the manger did not remain empty.

“See the dear baby, of Bethlehem, Little Lord Jesus, the Savior of men!”