Let the Stable Still Astonish

Let the stable still astonish:
Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes,
Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;
Crumbling, crooked walls;
No bed to carry that pain,
And then, the child,
Rag-wrapped, laid to cry
In a trough.
Who would have chosen this?

Who would have said: "Yes,
Let the God of all the heavens and earth
Be born here, in this place"?
Who but the same God
Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms
of our hearts and says, "Yes,
let the God of Heaven and Earth
be born here--
in this place."
- Leslie Leyland Fields

According to Wikipedia,  "Advent is a season observed...as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. The term is a version of the Latin word meaning 'coming'."

Our household purposes to create spirits of waiting and preparation in the coming weeks, that the stable would still astonish us.  We pray the same will be true for you and yours.