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“And in the fields there were shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night...” (Luke 2:15)

In the words of my eleven-year-old son: “Home is the place where you feel comfortable enough to walk around in your underwear.”

In other words, home is the place where we feel safe.

But, this Advent, I find myself thinking about the shepherds in the Christmas story. They certainly didn’t have the same kind of home. They lived out on the hillsides, where life was difficult, dangerous, and uncomfortable. Shepherds had to worry about weather, wild animals, thieves, and cliff edges. The job of protecting and providing for their flocks was endless. And there was no comfy bed or soft pillow to snuggle into at night.

But, then again, their home was also beautiful. At night, a shepherd might lay his head down on a pillow of moss, stretch out on a bed of grass, and fall asleep under the sparkling of the stars.

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And then came that extraordinary night. When the shepherds are woken by a light much brighter than the stars they fell asleep under. And they hear the best Good News ever, being sung to them by a choir of angels.

The shepherds hurry off to see Jesus for themselves. They find Him—in a manger in a stable—a place that anyone else would think wasn’t nearly good enough for a Savior. But the shepherds are at home here, among the familiar smells and noises of the animals.

And maybe—because the shepherds are at home there—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph felt more welcome and at home there too.