Art and the Nativity

This is a beautiful painting on wood done in the 1400's by Fra Filippo Lippi and Assistant, Florentine from the Samuel H. Kress Collection 1939. Ref:"An Illustrated Life of Christ" National Gallery of Art collection by Richard I. Abrams ` Warner A. Hutchinson.
  I really like this wood painting as it depicts the Holy Family in a stable of stone not wood and is more cave-like, which would be in keeping with the structures at the time of Christ's birth.
  Of course none of us know the true picture of Christ's birth because there is no pictoral history of his birth, only the pictures we ourselves embrace in our minds from the Bible's account of this holy event.  But the artists bring to life for us what may have been through their talent and feeling.

This one is depicting the Adoration of the Shepherds and again shows a cave-like stable where the babe was born.  I really like this one.  It, too, is a painting on wood.
"For centuries the wealth of Israel lay in its herds of sheep.  The men who guarded the flocks from predators and who guided them to pasture and water were honored by all as men of integrity, courage and compassion.  So highly esteemed was the work of the shepherd that the prophets and psalmists often spoke of God as the Great Shepherd of his people. By the time of the birth of Jesus, the traditions of nomadic people tending its herds of sheep had been largely replaced by the alien urban cultures of Greece and Rome.  Shepherds were now seen as lowly keepers of animals and relegated to the fringes of influence.  Yet it was to a group of shepherds in a field near Bethlehem that God first chose to announce the advent of the great Shepherd-King, the Messiah."
  Every one is blessed by God.  You don't have to be rich, famous, or anything special but yourself for God to include you in his family.  He is there for you just for the asking.  If you do not know how to pray, there is no special or mystic formula.  You can talk to God your Father just as you would your earthly parents or best friend. Tell Him what troubles you, what you are thankful for, and that you have faith. He will embrace you and help you in your everyday lives.  For when we are weak, that is when we are strong and when we are lonely, that is when we are closest to God.  God can use anything or anyone for his instrument.  Remember that.  God may be wherever you find Him, it is not always in church.... WISE MEN SEEK HIM....Celebrate!

     Love and hugs, Kerrie