Thoughts.com Blogs

socially ostracized.
misunderstood.
fiance thinking about sending you "away."
intimacy with God.
yeah ... make them believe that ...
... at least an angel talked to joseph.
of course, now joseph isn't talking much.
elizabeth's baby jumped in her womb.
how weird is that?
off to the census.
riding the spine of a mule.
while full-term pregnant.
THERE'S a smooth ride.
maybe they will reproduce it for cars one day.
(they'll have to pay to give it away.)
pregnant out of wedlock.
in a society that stones such "horrible" women.
no rooms.
a bed of hay in a barn.
nurses? um ... nope.
doctor? nope again.
at least clean surroundings?
fleas live in hay.
midwife? puh-leez.
there are animals and joseph.
not much help.
a teenaged woman with no anesthesia.
God gave invitations to visitors.
shepherds.
Jews don't even TALK to shepherds.
they are unclean.
the magi don't make it until Jesus is three.
during the moment of Mary's greatest fear and pain,
no one can say, "i've been there. you will live."
this infant with no bed
belongs in a royal nursery.
instead He nurses next to a Heavenly heart.

Mary's social isolation is met by this little King.
like the woman at the well,
Jesus answers her loneliness completely.
great artists have softened the harshness of the picture.
they make the hay clean and beautiful.
they make the shepherds kneeling,
aware somehow of the proper etiquette.
somehow all the animals in the barn
are watching with fascination.
i've had horses.
animals don't pay that kind of attention.
the reality is that Mary has not had the greatest of all experiences
with her pregnancy and birth.
it COST her something.
she was willing.
she could have said no.
she was a kid, for crying out loud.
what did she know?
her complete submission to God's will
had consequences.
not all of them were pretty.

Jesus Christ, we are told, is the same
yesterday, today and forever.
it still costs something to say yes to God.
for some, it costs everything to say yes to God.
think i am painting a negative picture?
then you are being exposed to reality for the first time.
this isn't negative.
this isn't "Old Testament."
this is reality.
you can't get on this roller coaster without experiencing a few ups and downs.
but in the most barren, lonely, weary moment of your journey,
He rests His head
against your heart.
He is born into your humiliation.
He comes to you
whatever your condition,
wherever you are,
and replaces your shame with His love.
He hasn't forgotten you.
He has been growing within you!
to paraphrase the Blind Boys of Alabama,
"i didn't come here to see Jesus.
i brought Him with me!"

it is a beautiful thing for us
that Mary said yes to the Lord before He ever got here.
not all aspects of our journey will be beautiful,
but we do not go alone.
it is difficult to convince yourself that He has abandoned you
when He is inside you.
Jesus adored Mary.
therefore i do too.
Her life has many lessons for my life.
although i am not pregnant,
and that's pretty much God's fault.
having a beautiful, peaceful manger scene
is wonderful.
all beauty and peace flow from that manger.
but don't forget what Mary learned.
you get back something a billion times more valuable
than any investment you make for God.
i am so grateful for that teenager
who said yes to God.