Christmas Thoughts

“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a     son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High”  (Luke 1:30-32)

A baby born in an animal stable a to a young teenage girl.  We romanticize this picture but it must of be terrifying for Mary and Joseph.  I remember the birth of our first child. We were just kids really. Watching Margi struggle through a long difficult labor was the most intense and terrifying experience.  Yet as we held or newborn baby our hearts filled with thanksgiving and expectations for the future.  That is the nature of hope, to look to the future with an expectation of good things.  I think Mary and Joseph lived their lives with hope in their hearts. They couldn't not see the whole journey laid out for them, but they had hope.  The  promise of God sustains, it causes us to look to the future with courage, faith and expectations of God's grace working in our lives.