by

                                                                               Marilyn Kinsella (November 2003)

Everyone in heaven was busy. The Prince of Peace was soon to be born. The angels, every one of them, had jobs to do. The Cherubim and Seraphim were busy decorating the heavenly throne with holly and ivy. The archangels were passing messages back and forth from heaven to the people on the Earth. And the other angels, the Principalities, Virtues and the Dominions, were arranging and rearranging the stars. The only thing left to do was to place the Star of Bethlehem in the night sky on the holiest of nights. – the star that would lead the shepherds and the wise men to the Baby Jesus. But whom would the Heavenly Father pick? Everyone had worked so hard. It was not going to be an easy decision.

Finally, the Heavenly Father had an idea. He came out with a proclamation: “Whoever can fill the stable in Bethlehem where my son is soon to be born, will be the one to light the Star of Bethlehem.”

Angels tried and tried to figure out the answer for they wanted to be the one to light the star. One angel thought straw could fill the stable. So he prepared for his journey. As he headed down to the stable, a little baby star appeared way up high in the night sky. “Take me, Take me!” (done as participation) 

“Oh, I’m much too busy,” said the angel and he kept flying down to the stable. He gathered haystacks and bales of straw. But no matter how much straw he put in the stable, it wasn’t enough.

Another angel – a beautiful angel, thought she knew the answer - feathers!. She prepared for her journey, but when she started on her journey, the baby star cried out once again, “Take me, Take me!”

But the angel just shrugged her shoulders and said, “Sorry, no time, and you are too far away.” She flew down to the stable and gathered sacks and sacks filled with feathers – goose feather, duck feathers – feathers from every bird imaginable, but, no matter how many feathers she put in the stable, it was never full.

One angel after another went down to the stable. All the angels thought they had the best idea. Each time that baby star cried out “Take me, take me!”  But no one would stop for such a small, insignificant star.

Finally, a very little angel decided he wanted to go to the stable and fill it. The other angels just looked at one another and shook their heads. I mean, what could this angel think of that hadn’t been tried before.

And, if truth be known, the little angel had absolutely no idea of how to fill the stable. But, he did want to see where the Baby Jesus was to be born. So he prepared for his flight. And, like all the other angels the little star asked him, “Take me, take me!.” 

The little angel looked and saw the teeny-tiny light barely twinkling in a sky filled with bright stars. “Sure, you can come with me. We can keep each other company.”  He flew up and plucked the star out of the blue velvet sky and they traveled down, down, down to the earth.

They found the stable where the Baby Jesus was to be born, but it was so dark! How would Mary and Joseph see anything? The little angel came inside and hung the baby star from the rafters. And now the stable was no longer dark, for the light from that teeny-tiny star filled the whole inside of that stable.

When Mary and Joseph came that night they could see perfectly fine with that teeny-tiny light . The angles came and their voices filled the stable with a heavenly sound. And, later that night, when the Baby Jesus was born, he held out his arms to the world filling that stable with love.

The little angel smiled and said, “The stable below is filled with light and music, but most of all it is filled with love.”

When the little angel returned to the heavens, he hung the baby star high up in the sky. Then he went to see the Heavenly Father. He smiled when he saw what the little had done. “Little Angel, you filled the stable with light. And now that same light will shine down from the heavens. Look and see the star you hung in the heavens.” When the little angel looked he couldn’t believe his eyes for now the baby star had grown and grown to a great light – the Star of Bethlehem. The shepherds and the wise men could find their way to a stable filled with love..                                                         

Even to this day, if you take one little candle into a dark room, you too can fill it with light. All it takes is one little light, a little light that we all hold in our hearts.