How Many Questions She Must Have Had

By this time that night how many times do you think she had counted his fingers and toes?

As she held the red chicken legged being do you think she questioned his origin of anything holy?

In between her body recovering from excruciating pain do you think she laughed at the absurdity of the situation?

Here she was, in a stinky barn, wedged between large range animals, laying her newborn son in somewhat fresh hay, in the middle of the night. It must have seemed a lot more ethereal when the angel shared the picture with her.

Did she oscillate between sheer terror of this life tearing from her and reverent worship of the one she herself called Jesus, Emmanuel?

I wonder in what order she laughed, wept, laughed, and sat in utter awe of what just happened inside of her?

Did she question her ability to bring up her little baby boy to save the people from their sins?

Could she take her eyes off of him?

We have to see the beauty in the rawness of Jesus’ birth. It’s been pointed out before but allow yourself to move from the greeting card picture to reality. A disgusting smelling barn. A young woman screaming in labor. A young father with no clue how to help his bride. Afterbirth on hay and fodder. A tiny newborn with a giant head and chicken legs laying in a manger as his young parents try to gather themselves after trauma. They are looking at him. He doesn’t know to look for them. All three trying to figure out what tomorrow much less the next few hours would bring. They can’t decide to stop kissing him and touching his little baby toes or to prop him up on a makeshift throne and try to worship this Baby King.

“I guess we should feed him.”

“Will God provide manna for him?”

“How long did the angel say we would have him?

“I’m not sure this is what I expected.”

“He’s so tiny. His eyes seem like a old soul though.”

Two thousand years later, God continues to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things if they will only listen. They do not need to be courageous. They do not need to have all the answers past today. They need only keep their eye of God, trust who God says He is and that He will do what He says He will do.

What new thing has God placed inside of you? What is the voice of God sharing with you about your future?