A couple who spent some time serving as missionaries in one of the former Soviet republics tell this story:

They were caring for children in an orphanage and, like anyone who has been involved in ministry with such kids, were simply overwhelmed by the tragedy of so many children who’d been abandoned. My own brother is involved in a ministry in Belarus which provides summer camp experiences for orphaned children. He shares some very sad stories about these kids who not only live in very tough conditions, but many of whom were orphaned because their families were poisoned by the release of radiation from the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

Well, this missionary couple was teaching the children about Christmas. They told them all about Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and wise men, and about the baby Jesus. They told them all about the stable, and the manger, and the star in the sky. They told them all about God’s love for the world embodied in the birth of Jesus. And after teaching the children the Christmas story, this couple invited them to draw some pictures of the manger scene.

All of the pictures were wonderful!

But one in particular caught their attention. It was drawn by a little boy named Misha. And what made Misha’s drawing so distinctive was that there was not one, but two babies lying in the manger.

“Misha, what a wonderful picture!” said the woman missionary. “But who is the other baby in the manger with the baby Jesus?”

Misha looked up with a lovely expression on his face. “The other baby is Misha,” he smiled.

“Oh? How is it that you added yourself to the manger scene?” she asked.

And this is what Misha said.

“When I was drawing the picture of the baby Jesus, Jesus looked at me and said, ‘Misha, where is YOUR family?’ I said to Jesus, ‘I have no family.’ Then Jesus said to me, ‘Misha, where is your home?’ And I said to Jesus, ‘I have no home.’

And then Jesus said to me, ‘Misha, you can come and be in my family and live in my home.’”

_____

And so can you.