Among the oxen (like an ox I’m slow)
I see a glory in the stable grow
Which, with the ox’s dullness might at length
Give me an ox’s strength.

Among the asses (stubborn I as they)
I see my Saviour where I looked for hay;
So may my beastlike folly learn at least
The patience of a beast.

Among the sheep (I like a sheep have strayed)
I watch the manger where my Lord is laid;
Oh that my baa-ing nature would win thence
Some woolly innocence!

today starts the countdown to Christmas. once again we find ourselves trying to balance the experience between the sacred and the material. helping in all this is the fact that we are without tenants down south. so we have to notch up the creativity factor and look up from our cy-über shopping so as not to miss the simple joys of good health, crazy family and nature’s beauty.