We're Expecting, Let's Not Forget Who's Coming

We celebrate the 1st coming of Jesus Christ our King this time of year. Often it seems we don't celebrate well or we get caught up in the world's idea of what Christmas is about- ourselves. I hope to do better this year on pointed celebrating- like what's the point?

I was just thinking, bc my mind is generally very active in the early hours of the morning, "What was Mary thinking about right now?". I do understand that maybe December 25th is NOT the exact day and you can prove to me by some formula when it was, but Jesus came to earth as a man at a specific day, so let's just say it was Dec. 25th for sake of argument. What was Mary thinking on Dec. 22nd of that year?

Since I am a new grand-parent this summer, I understand again the expectation of child-birth. Some of my younger friends are currently pregnant. There is great expectation. Mary knew that this baby was going to be a boy, which didn't happen often in those days. Mary knew that this baby inside her was very special. All new moms think their baby is the most special, but this one was THE MOST special. Mary knew a lot of things but what was she thinking about right now?

Was she thinking that He was going to be a king like the kind of kings she knew about? Was she confused like the disciples were when He was starting His ministry- trying to find their place in the kingdom? Knowing the little she knew about being a mom, what must have this been like for her while being sort of on the run? This was not exactly the perfect teen pregnancy, even in those days. There was some serious family issues going on here.

I know how excited I was to learn that Kimmy and Ian were pregnant. I know how excited I was to hear that she was carrying a boy, but one can't get too excited about being a grand-parent bc until they are out and healthy there is no guarantees. Mary had a guarantee from an angel that her son would live and be a king. Today we get no such guarantees and in those days a guarantee of a long living child was not only unheard of, but to have a long living child was unusual. There were a lot of bad things that can happen before they are 5.

But this baby was causing His parents some stress early on. Put yourself in Mary's shoes when she has to tell Joseph she is pregnant. What will he say? Put yourself in her shoes as she tells her parents- what will they say? This is gonna be really hard and is gonna cause some real heartache. She's not an old, mature woman; she's practically a child herself. You might say, "Well, an angel told her all this, so she should believe it". Right, and we have the actual Word of God and do we always believe it wholly? We have generations of seeing God's faithfulness, the printed Word and yet often we struggle to stay focused, and we're OLD.

So, on this day, some 2000 years ago, she and her husband were traveling for Christmas, but when they stopped for the night Tom Bodett didn't leave the light on, in fact there wasn't any place to stay, except with the cows. Erase the picture of the big red barn from your thoughts, or even the nativity scene barn that is all cute. This was probably much more like a cave or lien-to at best. I don't know why but for some reason I had in my mind, as a child, this horse barn kind of setting, like the nursery with the barn door, all cozy and dark. It was probably pretty drafty where Mary and Joseph landed for child birth.

God wants us thinking about the expectation of Christmas. He also wants us thinking about His 2nd coming with the same expectation. There are things to get ready, but we should be getting ready with a purpose- the King is coming. Mary was getting ready with a purpose- The King is coming. Mary had some family issues, but the King is coming. Mary had all kinds of issues and a guarantee that this Son would rule- we have the same guarantee. We're expecting, let's not forget Who we're expecting.