A poor orphan girl named Maria
Was walking to market one day
She stopped for to rest by the roadside
Where a bird with a broken wing lay
A few moments passed till she saw it
For it's feathers were covered with sand
But soon clean and wrapped it was traveling
In the warmth of Maria's small hand

She happily gave her last peso
On a cage made of rushes and twine
She fed it loose corn from the market
and watched it grow stronger with time

Now the Christmas Eve service was coming
And the church shone with tinsel and light
And all of the townfolk brought presents
To lay by the manger that night
There were diamonds and incense
and perfumes
In packages fit for a king
But for one ragged bird in a small cage
Mara had nothing to bring

She waited till just before midnight
So no one would see her go in
And crying she knelt by the manger
For her gift was unworthy of Him

The a voice spoke to her through
the darkness
Maria, what brings you to me
If the bird in the cage is your offering
Open the door, let me see
Though she trembled, she did as he asked her
And out of the cage the bird flew
Soaring up into the rafters
On a wing that had healed good as new

Just then the midnight bells rang out
And the little bird started to sing
A song that no words could recapture
Whose beauty was fit for a king

Now Maria felt blessed just to listen
To that cascade of notes sweet and long
as her offering was lifted to heaven
By the very first nightengales's song

This lead us to a discussion about B's Christian religion. He is pretty religious, and has some contrasting views with mine, but is very private about his worship. He spent some time as an atheist, and a satanist, but has come back to his Lutheran roots. Here's the secret- he reads the bible every night, and never told a soul that he does.

There is a line in the bible (I'm told) that talks about never praying in public where people can see you, and B. liked that a lot. He says a lot of people make a big show at being at church, and how "churchy" they are, when in their private lives they are anything but pious.

In the song, everyone made a show of giving glamorous gifts as an offering to Jesus, and the girl gave the most simple, most pure gift, even though it wasn't diamonds or gold. Kind of like The Little Drummer Boy. B. said that the song reminded him of what is important in being Christian. Your relationship with God is private, and has nothing to do with anyone else's relationship with God. It has nothing to do with what people THINK your relationship with God is. It must come from the heart.

All this happened, in the snow, in the car on the way to our neighborhood deli. Beautiful. A true christmas moment, like the ones that they try to create in a sappy Hallmark movie. By the end of our conversation, we were both choked up.

7 comments

before || after