With the Christmas season all around us, I want to take it all in. The sounds. The lights and sights that people put up! The smell of fresh greens and the Christmas tree. Admiring the small presents that are wrapped up. The smell of warm cookies. The taste of sand tarts sprinkled with so much sugar. Hot coffee, cocoa, tea. All these things remind me of Christmas.
I wish though that this Christmas I can get a bigger picture of how it must have really been! A very pregnant women that needs to make that long journey to Bethlehem. On a donkey! Up one hill and down the next. I'm sure the nights were cold. I'm sure she got tired. So tired. I'm sure that Joseph was exhausted! Taking his wife & his unborn child, far out into the night must have seemed just a bit crazy! Obeying God's leading must have not been an easy task. But God provided for them and just in time too!
When they arrived to the crowded out town of Bethlehem, things were not so silent and not so homey. I bet at some point they both wished for their own beds. I know I would have! Going from inn to inn and being told the same answer, "No, we are full. We have no more beds available." The frustration that Joseph must have been feeling was real! "Why are we not finding anything? God surely knew we were arriving here tired, pregnant & in labor!!!" Thankfully, there was one inn keeper that offered them all he had left. A stall in his stable. A place the animals stayed. Smelling that hay, feed, manure and who knows what all else, is probably not the smells we think of at Christmas! But they were both glad to be out of the wind, cold, and finally be able to get a little rest.
Later that night, Mary gave birth to the Son of God! Maybe alone? Maybe with just Joseph's help? How many of our husbands would have liked to help birth our first baby? Probably none!!!! Maybe that's how they did things back then? Maybe not? Some details like these I wish at times we would know more about. I can only imagine ...!
Jesus was born. A healthy baby boy. In the stable. With the animals all around him. Mary nursed her baby and wrapped him in a blanket to keep him warm. I'm sure Joseph was doing his best! He was a carpenter ... not a doctor! He probably offered Mary some water. Clean clothes. Anything to make her and Jesus comfortable.
We kinda just move from this scene to the shepherds visitation. I can't imagine trying to get around through the crowded city after just giving birth. Maybe Mary was able to get a room later and rest till she was able to ride their donkey again? I don't know. Maybe she had other relatives that needed to go to Bethlehem to pay taxes that helped her? I know I would have been wishing to have my mom's help! Just imagine. This happened for real! In "real life"!!!
Realizing the tough journey and the rough birth of Jesus is part of what I want to be thankful for this Christmas season! As you drive past manger scenes the next few weeks or when you look at a small nativity scene, just imagine how it must have really all taken place. Put yourself in their shoes. Having a baby is really hard, actually the hardest thing that I ever did in my life and I can't imagine doing it in a stable. In a strange city full of strange people. Knowing that God was with them is all they needed to know!!! They found their strength in Him alone.
There are only 20 days till Christmas day!!! Enjoy the season! :)
