A Shepherd's Story

The night is cool
The lambs lie sleeping.
Yet there's a star up in the sky
That's somehow taken hold of me
It lights a stable
That's strangely quiet
A voice within whispers "Go"
Though I'm not sure what I'll see

What is the reason
I've come to be here?
I've been right here a thousand times
Yet some new feeling fills the air
Am I a witness
To something special?
Is this a story I'm supposed to share?

I steal up closer
And peek inside
I see a mother filled with love cradling an infant filled with light
The baby's sleeping
And all is peaceful
I wonder--is it just by chance this child was born this night?

Is this the reason
I've come to be here?
I've been right here a thousand times
Yet some new feeling fills the airAm I a witness
To something special?
Is this a story I'm supposed to share?

Is this the Christ child--a gift from the Creator
Who loves the world, who loves us--each and ev'ry one
And as a promise of His love,
Has reached down from above
And breathed His life into this gift to us--His son?

The years have passed now
And I've outlived Him
I guess he wasn't ours to keep-- was only with us for a while
But with my own eyes
I saw Him--Jesus,
When I remember His angelic face, I cannot help but smile

There was a reason
For me to be there
Right where I'd been a thousand times
When some new feeling filled the air
I was a witness
To something special
It was a story I was born to share

So I've told this story each and ev'ry Christmas
When I'm no longer here to tell it
Tell them. . .
Tell them. . . I was there.

by Phil Hall
Christmas Day, 2010