Two Days Before Christmas

The Thursday before Christmas… Growing up I always had the impression Mary and Joseph were frantically searching for shelter in Bethlehem and at the last moment when Mary’s contractions were one minute apart, they found the stable and upon entering the stable Mary immediately gave birth while the cows lowed, the goats bleated and the sheep baaah’ed (is that even a word?). Where such an idea found root and blossomed in my brain, only to bloom for the last 53 years is beyond my comprehension. But, today I am trying out some new “mind-bending” techniques without the use of herbal, organic supplements (legal or otherwise!). What if Mary and Joseph arrived a week, two weeks or even a month before the birth of the Newborn King? What if they had kind of “set up shop” in the stable? What if… (we don’t have enough time to pose all of the “what if” questions crossing my mind this morning…) My bottom line question on the this Thursday before Christmas is… What were Mary and Joseph doing two days before the birth of Jesus? I can only speculate… This is only conjecture… This is pure fantasy thinking… Here’s my best guess: They had no cell phones (How smart am I!!!) They had no computers… They had no friends with them… They had no family… (strange no family is mentioned in the Biblical account even though they were in Bethlehem for a census) They had no home… They had no job… This list could go on and on… Let’s just stop now… You kind of get the idea of the number things they did not have. But… (I love my “buts!”) They had shelter… They had food… They had clothing… and most importantly… They had each other and they had God! It’s the Thursday before Christmas… I don’t know what you are doing, I don’t know what you don’t have, I don’t even know what you have, But, Perhaps you have someone you love and/or someone who loves you… And better than that is the fact you have a God who has you… So… today I propose You spend some time with the loved ones you have And spend some time with the One who has you and holds you in the hollow of His hand And maybe that alone would be all you need to “do” today And maybe, just maybe that’s all Mary and Joseph were doing two days before the birth of the Newborn King… Merry Christmas! Laugh often and Fear not! David!