Lessons From the Stable All Year Long – Guest Post by Nannette

I am excited to introduce to you my last guest that will be posting on my blog for the Christmas season.  Her name is Nannette, and yes she is my amazing and wonderful mother!  She is an LDS Addiction Recovery Missionary, and is an amazing writer and mother .  You can read more from her here at LDS 12 Step Reflections.  Head on over there and read some of her wonderful Christmas post!

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For many years we re-enacted the Christmas Story at my mother’s house. As young
girls my sister and I traded off taking the part of Mary, the angel, or a shepherd and my
brothers filled in all the male roles. Being the oldest I was the narrator many times.

During my motherhood years I didn’t usually take a part, but every year, on Christmas
Eve, about the time all the other adults had collapsed on sofas and in chairs, being
overcome with preparation and food, my sister and I called all the cousins into
Grandma’s bedroom and we costumed for the Nativity Scene.

“Mom, my shepherd hat won’t stay on!”
“You were the wise man last year, give me grandma’s jewelry!”
“Where’s Uncle _____ robe?”
“Sheets, we need more sheets.”

My mother totally left this preparation (which was always more dramatic than the
presentation itself) to my sister and I. I’m sure she determined that she had put in enough
time as director of this yearly pageant. I doubt if she enjoyed her retirement as she
heard the sound of 15+ children in her bedroom fighting over her beads and robes and
rummaging through her drawers for this or that important prop.

The issue of who was to take the role of baby Jesus was usually pretty clear-cut, but one
year we had to line up four baskets, two baby boys and a set of twin girls. We even tried
to involve some of the adult men, uncles taking the part of camels and donkeys.

Today the tradition lives on, only now it’s my jewelry and towels and robes they’re
using. I’m the grandma who allows her daughters the opportunity to do the directing.

This yearly event gives each of us a few minutes to pretend we are there. Christmas time
seems to shorten the years that have lapsed since the audience actually participated as
part of the cast. Our childlike love for the pageant is easily accessed. For a few short
minutes we have relived more than just a story. The thousands of miles and years that
separate us from the most wondrous people, events, and symbols in the history of man,
are diminished.

This year, as I sat watching the Christmas Story come to life in my living room it
suddenly occurred to me that putting on this humble family pageant each year is really
our first taste of placing ourselves in the shoes of scripture people and seeing what we
can learn about our own mission. As grown-ups we don’t dress up like those ancient ones
as we take time study the scripture each day. Instead we place ourselves figuratively in
their shoes and consider the principles that are being taught and how their experience
applies to our own. As I watched the children take turns being part of each act of the
nativity play a question came into my mind. “Nannette, what can you learn from the
people, events, and symbols of the Christmas story through the eyes of recovery? Are
there recovery lessons in the stable?” These are the thoughts that came to my mind:

The Angel: The message we are called to carry to those who suffer on this earth is not
unlike the Angel Gabriel’s message to Mary. The message is that the Lord loves us. He
desires to be with us. We don’t need to be afraid, and we each have a unique work to do
on the earth. You and I can be like Gabriel as we carry the message to others! (Step 12)

Mary: I wish my response to the Lord’s request was always like Mary’s, “Be it unto
me according to thy word.” But it’s not. You and I can be like Mary as we grow in the
ability to trust Him absolutely! (Step 3)

Joseph: When Joseph takes Mary as his wife he is literally saying, “I care for my
Heavenly Father and His plan more than I care for any earthly honor. Am I willing to be
the hands of God no matter what the cost? You and I can be like Joseph as we become
willing to bear the shame of the world! (Step 11)

The Inn: Although I wasn’t there, the opportunity to provide a dwelling place for the
Lord is still very much available. The room He has asked me to give Him is my heart.
That’s the place where He longs to dwell. He can only “move in” with my permission, at
my invitation. You and I can be willing to make room for Him today! (Step 6)

The Stable: Sometimes my heart feels like a stable, not nearly clean enough, pure
enough, to provide a dwelling place for the Son of God! Am I humble enough to invite
Him in anyway, with my heart in disarray, so cluttered and imperfect? Sometimes I find
myself filled with embarrassment at the thought! “Please, just give me a little more time
and maybe I can get my heart all spruced up and ready for divine occupancy!” But it’s a
job beyond my single-handed mortal ability. Will I invite the Son of God to come in and
dirty His perfectly clean hands with the work of my salvation? Will I allow the Lord to
empty my heart of all the things that crowd Him out, the things that are “outside of Him,”
all the lesser things I have come to depend on, instead of Him? You and I can be like the
humble stable as we let Him in! (Step 7)

The Star: If there was a star in the heavens with my name on it, and it hung over and
illuminated the principal object of my love and worship (the thing of greatest importance
to me) would it be a Christmas star? Would it shine on the Jesus Christ? Would it
illuminate His life and His mission? Would it serve those who are lost and weary? Would
it point others toward Him? You and I can be like the star as we point the way! (Step 12)

The Shepherds: I’m so grateful the shepherds didn’t doubt their own experience. They
didn’t stand around after the angels departed saying, “Wait a minute! This kind of thing
doesn’t happen to shepherds?” No, they sought out the Christ child. The scriptures say
they went with haste. I must seek Him too, and immediately, no matter how ordinary
or unfit I think I am, because the Lord reveals himself to shepherds and other ordinary
people like you and me. You and I can be like the shepherds as we do not doubt and go
with haste! (Step 11)

The Kings: These earthly kings offered their riches to the Christ. That’s what I wish I

could take to Jesus too—things that are beautiful, all shined up and smelling lovely. But
He asks me to offer my whole soul. Some of that package isn’t very pretty. Will I offer
Him the best I have along with the worst? Will I offer Him all I have, all I am? He says
He is like a refiner’s fire and can turn me into gold. To the Lord, you and I are gold in the
making, gold in process. We can be like the Wise Men as we offer our whole souls as an
offering unto Him! (All Steps)

The Journey: Too many of us are convinced that the distance between Jesus and us is
literally insurmountable. It’s really not so very far to “Bethlehem,” to that place where
we meet up with Jesus. The imagined miles between the Lord and us shorten every time
we admit our need for Him. When we turn our minds and our hearts to Him for the
direction and power we need so badly we invite Him to be our traveling companion, and
He joins us on the road! Every day I have to let go once again of the fear and pride that
reduces my speed, delays my progress, and keeps Him at arms-length, unable to work in
my life. Our recovery, our healing, our progress on our road to Bethlehem and thereafter
was His sole purpose in coming to earth that first Christmas night. Our primary work is to
not stand in His way. (All Steps)

It had never occurred to me before that all the elements of the story of the birth of Christ
teach powerful, practical lessons for me.

Now lest you think our family nativity experience is unlike your own, I’ll tell you that
it’s not! Alas the play, my thoughts, and the evening must come to a close. The signs are
always clear. The baby Jesus starts to cry because he or she just can’t lie there and be
that good any longer, a strand of Grandma’s favorite beads breaks, someone’s costume
completely falls apart or one of the uncles who has been playing the part of a camel
realizes that he may never walk upright again. We quickly sing one verse of “Silent
Night” and then spend the next hour folding up towels and sheets and hanging up robes
and searching for Grandma’s lost jewelry.

The magic of that night 2000 years ago is suddenly filled up with thoughts of getting
home, hanging up stockings, and wrapping one last gift. We wonder if 7-11 sells
anything that will do for neighbors we barely know who just dropped off a beef stick,
assorted cheeses, and a bag full of homemade caramel popcorn balls. And finally, there
is the fear that Santa might leave something that requires assembly. Oh dear! The world
crowds in quickly, doesn’t it!

Christmas Day has come! The family nativity is all cleaned up, but this year I’m taking
something with me. As I go into the new week and the new year I’m going to take the
lessons I learned from the family pageant with me. I can be like Gabriel, like Mary, like
Joseph, like the star, and the inn, and the stable, the shepherds, and the wise men. I can
take the journey to the King too, and so can you. Recovery lessons from the stable bring
the miracle home!

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year to you all!

By Nannette W.

Copyright 2008 by Nannette W. All right reserved. Making or sending copies is
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