One Solitary Life

I’m not sure who first wrote this, I've seen it in many places and many versions. I like this version because it gets to the point of who’s birthday we celebrate on Christmas. Merry Christmas to all. Now i have to get back to the kitchen…….Grenville

He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty
He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never traveled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself
He was only thirty three when the tide of public opinion Turned against Him
His friends ran away
One of them denied him and one betrayed Him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth
When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend
Twenty centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of humankind’s progress
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of humankind on earth
As powerfully as that one solitary life