THE DONKEY AND THE SHEEP

The donkey and sheep

Side by side did sleep.

The chickens on their roost

Needed nightime rest to boost

Their energy  in the day,

More eggs to enjoyably lay.

Into that blissful scene

Came humans, not serene.

A woman and a man

In the door did stand

To see if they were able

To find a place in the stable.

The donkey opened half an eye

While a chicken clucked nearby.

The sheep looked at the couple

Irritated at the sudden kerfluffle.

Little did the critters know

What God was going to bestow.

Into that slumbering stable

Burst God's plan to enable

His wayward human race

To find near Him a place,

An opportunity to embrace

Through His amazing grace.

The donkey moved aside

To give the man and bride

A place to rest amidst the straw

As they complied with Ceasar's law.

The crowded city of Bethlehem

Had no more room in an inn.

As the couple tried to make do

The lady's insides began to stew.

What?  Now?  In a stable low

Would God descend to earth below?

Yes, as she started a contraction,

God eagerly offered salvation.

As the lady named Mary

Struggled birthing a very

Robust, healthy boy

Angels came to deploy

Nearby shepherds to find

What God planned for humankind.

When the stable they did find

The donkey and sheep were in a bind.

How many people would yet come

To their humble stable home?

Oh, it was just the beginning,

Like baseball's very first inning.

For from the fence and board

Came the Savior, Christ the Lord.

Then the donkey knew he'd seen

God's provision for all men.

This night God descended,

Satan's plans completely upended.

What the sheep and donkey saw

Was God's ending of the law,

His ultimate gospel provision

Through Christ's earthly mission.

In the stable God's greatest gift

Offered us a divine, eternal lift.

No more bound by ugly sin

We could accept, and enter in

To a heavenly host and tribe

With Christ eternally to abide.

The donkey and sheep

Couldn't go back to sleep.

For those of us alive today

This event still holds sway

As the greatest cosmic burst

From God who wants us first

To recognize the Savior's birth

Enabled our ultimate worth.