You're listening to Encounter.

A simple daily podcast made possible by listeners like you.

We hope to help you discover sacred moments in the middle of ordinary days.

And if you would enjoy greater access to even more free meditations, I encourage you to

download the Encountering Peace mobile app where all the meditations are free as they

should be.

The tiny caravan of ancient astrologers and wise oracles is still far to the east as the

cry of a baby splits the cold night air.

The cry loud enough to ring the ears of the mother and father in the manger, but a cry

loud enough to be heard around the world.

But the effects of the cry seemed to have been heard first by a lowly band of shepherds

not watching their sheep that night.

To a waiting cord of kingly kings or to a royal pageantry, but heard first by the lowly,

the humble, and the last any would expect to be tasked with telling the world of the

arrival of God on earth.

This meditation from Luke 2 will follow the humble shepherds on their passage that evening.

Those shepherds, as they were the first to receive the birth announcement, the first

to open it, and the first to share it, the lowly shepherds.

So to begin, allow your eyes to move from open to a soft gaze to now closed, as you receive

this gift of meditation for the next 15 minutes or so, and offering, if you will, to encounter

God or through the story of the shepherds.

Begin to take note of your pulse slowing and your breathing becoming more relaxed, as

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