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One of the most beautiful of the German legends tells how one Christmas Eve a poor man, coming homeward through the forest, heard a cry and found a little child, cold and hungry. The good man stopped, sought the little one in the wood, and took him with him to his house. His children gladly welcomed the stranger and shared their evening meal with him. Then while he sat there at the table, suddenly a change came over the child’s appearance, and lo! It was the Christ child whom, unconsciously, the family had received in this needy, suffering little one.
It is only a legend, but is lesson is true. Christ is ever coming to our doors in the person of some poor or suffering one, and the reception we give the one he sends he regards as given to him. This ought to make us careful how we treat those who need sympathy and help, lest some time we slam the door in the face of Jesus. Let us rather receive the lowliest of his little ones as if it were Christ himself, with the beauty shining in his face. Then we shall always get the blessing.