The older I get the more I enjoy and have a greater understanding of my grandmother, Ruth Bell Graham’s, poems. Through her writings, I feel she is still teaching me a greater biblical understanding on life, on motherhood, as a wife, and as a child of God. I cherish her poetry more and more as I read it. I just recently came across this Christmas poem written by her many years ago, and I thought I would share.
No Ordinary Sheep
Those were no ordinary sheep,
no common flocks,
huddled in sleep
among the fields,
the layered rocks,
near Bethlehem
That Night;
but those
selected for the Temple sacrifice:
theirs to atone
for sins
they had not done.
How right
the angels should appear
to them
That Night.
Those were no usual shepherds
there, but outcast shepherds
whose unusual care
of special sheep
made it possible to keep
Rabbinic law,
which therefore banned them.
How right
the angels should appear
to them
That Night.
For more of my grandmother’s collections check out Ruth’s Attic.