from nazareth to bethlehem

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.” (Luke 2:4-7)

There’s nothing easy about the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, especially if you are nine months pregnant at the time.  It is a dangerous and grueling four-day (minimum) journey, and that’s if you choose to take the most direct route through Samaria, which a good Jew never would.  Avoiding Samaria altogether turns it into a weeklong journey instead.  So, either way it is going to involve seventy to ninety miles, thirty-five hours of walking or riding spread out over four to seven days.

That’s the journey before each of us as the season of Advent begins.  That is the process we must go through in order for the “new thing” to be born in each of us.  There’s no way around it.  New birth always comes about as the result of a great journey.  A journey that will not be easy.  In fact, it might be more challenging and demanding than you ever imagined.  So, climb aboard your donkey and let’s get started.  Watch and wait and struggle and pray and imagine and hope.  The new thing that is to be born in you will make it all worth it.  It is a birth that is more beautiful and more glorious and more amazing than you could ever imagine, but it won’t be easy to get there.  It will be long and hard but will end in a glorious result—new life!

I am expecting my first granddaughter in June and couldn’t be more excited!  I spend a lot of time praying and imagining and celebrating, but really won’t know the full depths of her beauty and her life and her presence until the day she comes forth and is born into this world.  I cannot wait until that day!  I cannot wait to get my hands on this little miracle and pour out my love on her, the way I have with my two amazing grandsons before her.  That’s what the season of Advent is all about, it’s about that joyful, expectant, hopeful, excited waiting.  Thus, we can endure the hard and the painful and the uncomfortable and the exhausting, because God is doing a new thing, and we can’t wait to see it and hold it and know it and love it.  Thanks be to Him!

O Lord, give me the courage and the strength and the grace to embark on this journey of new life and new birth you are inviting me to.  Don’t let the hard keep me from pressing on to the good and beautiful.