Be careful when you clean out the stable,
when you evict the smelly shepherds
and their gifts.

Be careful when you sweep and dust,
removing not only the former inhabitants
but the memory of their being there.

Be careful when you close the stable door
to poor refugees
and their children,
because one day
you may turn around
and find that Christ has gone,
out there,
into the bitter cold,
to play with the other
sacrificial lambs.