Away in a Manger

Copyright 2011 singeronthesand

The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them;

The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

Isaiah 35:1-2

During the continued struggle of the American economy, cities across the U.S. are struggling with what to do with the unsightly mess of a stalled construction site.  Cinder blocks, barbed wire, beer bottles, take-out containers and trash – an empty lot can quickly become a litterer’s holiday.  New York City alone has over 600 stalled sites to prevent from becoming eyesores.

Last summer in a vacant lot by the East River, an urban farming community sprang up, growing vegetables in milk crates.  It is a little patch of green in the midst of towering concrete.  Riverpark Farm is a creative maze of black milk crates lined with landscaping fabric and filled with potting soil.  The vegetables grown on the farm are utilized in a restaurant housed in the office tower next door.  Onions, spinach, carrots, beets, squash, and tomatoes – all have been grown and harvested on this portable farm.  When/if construction plans are renewed for the site, the farm can be quickly moved to a new location – one crate at a time.

In downtown Brooklyn, a stalled project area has been turned into the DeKalb Market – a community of tiny shops fashioned out of colorful shipping containers such as those on cargo ships.  Letting in only a couple of customers at a time, the stores sell everything from donuts to home goods, purses to books, and wool hats to hot dogs.  The outdoor “mall” provides a living for creative entrepreneurs, a shopping outlet for downtown workers, and a wonderful camouflage for what could be urban blight.

God Himself is a lover of creative space management, transforming a stable into a birthing room, and an animal feeding trough into a country crib for His newborn Son.  The Child in the manager did not just fill an empty space; He came to imbue all of creation with peace, and joy, and love.