And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. (Luke 2:20 ESV)
Shepherds
Enthusiasms are often hesitant. Cheers are often muted. Excitement is often restrained. Happiness is often not quite really fully wholly happy.
But they can be.
Enthusiasms, cheers, excitement, and happiness can be faulty, incomplete, and cautious because the events that lead to such things are unsure. It seems natural, protective, and careful to hold ourselves back.
But Christians have something the rest of the world might envy. We have something to be enthusiastic about. We have something to cheer about. We have something to be excited about. We have something to be happy about.
The shepherds show us.
Perhaps their enthusiasm might have been dampened when they remembered they still had sheep to watch in their fields by night. Perhaps their cheers might have been less cheery when they realized no one was cheering with them. Perhaps their excitement was muted when they realized that the angels had left. Perhaps they were a little less happy when they got hungry that night.
But that is not the picture scripture describes.
They had something unique and amazing.
They were enthused, cheering, excited, and happy because the Messiah had come!
We are peculiar. We can be enthused, we can cheer, we can be excited, we can be happy for the same reason. Jesus.