View from Vining, Dec. 6

Advent greetings! Like most of you, my husband and I have been participating in the activities of the season—shopping, Christmas parties and programs, decorating, and baking and I have to admit it hasn’t been too bad. I pray the same for you as well.

I had the opportunity, this past Wednesday, to participate in the making of layettes with the confirmation students of the parish and a few of the ladies from the Folden Church (one of the four churches my husband serves). Donations of receiving blankets, "onesies," sleepers, hygiene products, toys and bibs were given by members of each of the churches and then assembled by us into nice neat bundles. 26 total were made that evening. They will be distributed to needy mothers in Ottertail County (the county we live in) by a member of one of the congregations who is a nurse in the area. She was delighted to have such a resource at her disposal.

All I kept thinking about, as we assembled the layettes, was what if someone had brought a bundle like this to Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus that frightful and yet joyous night—a little token from a stranger to let them know that they are not alone and a few resources to get them through a tough time.

Lord God, thanks for helping all of us that night remember the stranger in our midst and their needs. May the mother and child that receive a layette know that they are thought of and cared for by their neighbors and most of all by You. Amen.