The Night Of Holy Light
“The Night of Holy Light”
The boy, Yashar, stretched as he wiggled out from under the skins on his pallet bed. This was to be a momentous day for him! He was going out on his first week as a shepherd with his Abba Maw-kone. He had finally reached the age of twelve years maturity, when sons began to do their father’s work.
“Come Yashar!“ his Mother Rib-bay-ah called out. “Your Abba has been up and has watered the sheep already. Do not be a lazy boy on this your first day as a shepherd!”
“Yes Meter Reb-bay-ah! I am almost ready! Didn’t I go to sleep with my shepherd’s cloak on at darkness last night? I am coming!” he answered.
Yashar peeked around the hanging room divider to see that his Meter was already putting his slice of bread soaked in his milk and honey on his breakfast plate. He didn’t really care for it all mushed up like that, but he was truly hungry, so he hurried out carrying his sandals and leg coverings.
“I can’t believe I am finally going to the hills with Abba and my Uncles’ sheep! Uncle Amar teases me all the time that I am ‘too little’ to be a shepherd! But Uncle El-aw-zawr tells Uncle Amar to stop the tease! He tells me of the first time he was to go with the sheep and his own Abba.!”
His Meter looked up, and began to remember when her brother El-aw-zawr began to tease her, his little sister, because she was a girl, she couldn’t ever come to tend the sheep! She chuckled behind her hand as she quickly concealed the smile the memory brought back to her.
“Maybe you will have a very special night, tonight, young Yashar,” she said. “Maybe your Abba will snare a rabbit to cook over the fire pit for your evening meal! It has been a long time since we have tasted the sweet refreshment of cooked rabbit!”
Yashar was just finishing his bread and milk when his Uncle Kelach peeked into the tent opening. “Are you ready “Little Shepherd Boy?” he called out his favorite nickname for his nephew. “We must meet up with the others at the sheep pen! Your Abba, my baby brother, has already given them much water. He forgets that we have found a sweet water spring up on the hillside we will use on this graze! Come, now, come!”
Yashar nearly toppled his stool as he quickly jumped up from the table. He had already put on his footwear, and as he quickly hugged his Meter, he followed his Uncle Kelach out to the sheep pen.
His other two uncles and his Abba were waiting with the animals. Abba picked up a shepherd’s crook, and proudly handed it to his small son. “Here is your very own crook, “Little Shepherd Boy”, you will learn how to use it tonight. As we bed down on the hill side, beside our fire pit, I will tell you how you must control it.”
Yashar said “Oh, Abba! This is my very own crook? That means you will be asking me to come along with you on other days to tend the sheep! Thank you, Abba, thank you!”
The four adult shepherds and the “Little Shepherd Boy” began their qwest for food for the sheep. They would be tending to their flock out on the lower hills outside of their town of Bethlehem. There they would camp, letting the sheep graze on the tufts of coarse grass along the hillsides. The days would be long, under the desert sun, and the nights would become very cold.
Their tent would shield them from the extreme weather changes of course, and their fire pit would help them to stay warm. The sheep would huddle together for warmth, because their woolen bodies would generate more heat then if they stayed apart.
Yashar shivered that dark evening as he sat by the fireside. He didn’t know just what made him do that.
Abba had indeed snared a rabbit, and they had feasted on the meat at their evening repast.
He shivered again.
“Abba, I am in such an expectant mood! What could be causing this feeling that seems to well up inside of me? I already know what your shepherding job is mostly about. You have taught me how to properly use the crook on a wayward lamb! So what am I shivering for? What is going to happen?”
At that very instant, as he shivered for the third time, the darkness was broken into by a magnificient burst of light! Yashar fell against his Abba, and the Uncles grabbed each other’s arms and fell to their knees! As the light became brighter and brighter, nearly blinding them as they witnessed the brilliance, Yashar became very afraid!
His Abba Maw-kone clasped his arms around his “Little Shepherd Boy”, holding him so tightly that Yashar called out in discomfort! They both looked up into the shikinah light that now was radiating throughout the sky. They all gasped in awe and terror!
A most brilliant Angel appeared and said to them, “Do not be afraid! I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord.”
“This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.”.
Suddenly a great multitude of the Heavenly Angels appeared with the announcing Angel. They were singing and praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.”
As suddenly as they appeared, the angelic choir disappeared. Yashar cried out “Abba! We must go into Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which
The Angel of the Lord has just told us about!”
They picked up their crooks, tightened their robes around themselves, and without looking back at their flock which were quietly huddled together, and ran down the hillside on the path to Bethlehem!
They followed the path shown to them by the light of a brilliant star in the east. Yashar looked up at the star, and his mind was reeling with the excitement! “Such a Night of Holy Light!” he thought as he ran.
He was a much faster runner than his Abba and Uncles, but he didn’t care! They were lapsing behind him. His heart was racing! Hadn’t his Meter Rib-bay-ah just this morning say that something special could happen tonight?
A Savoir had just been born! The baby will be lying in a manger! “That means that the Savior was born in a stable, but which stable?” his mind was racing.
“Yashar! Yashar!” yelled his Abba. “Just follow the path of that star’s Holy Light! It will lead us to the manger where the baby Savior lies! Hurry, hurry, we are coming right behind you!”
They found the manger! In this Night of Holy Light, they found the Savior! They kneeled and worshipped the baby in the manger. His mother Mary and Abba Joseph looked over thim. Yashar looked into Mary’s eyes, and she said “Come, see my Child. He is reaching out to you!” Yashar gently touched the Savoir’s tiny fingers.
When they had seen him, they went out and spread the word concerning what had been told them from the Angels about this Holy Child.
The Little Shepherd Boy seemed to radiate the shikinah light as he told everyone he saw that he had touched the fingers of the baby Savior. He sang out his elation as he repeated the song of the Angels: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!”
Yashar wondered, “How can I ever go back to being just a simple shepherd when I have lived through such a Night of Holy Light?”
© Copyright 2007
by Kathlene R. Amerine
http://www.angeltouchespublishing.com
All Rights Reserved
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