This song from Handle's "Messiah" stirs my heart.

"For unto us a child was born..." a baby that cried when hungry and wet; a child that learned carpentry from Joseph & the meaning of the Torah from His Heavenly Father; a child Mary knew was unlike any other. A man, who when baptized brought us God's declaration: "This is my Son...in whom I am well pleased." 


The Son became a healer, a teacher, a man of prayer & so much more. Jesus, the Christ came to comfort... to give us hope, joy, and peace.

                              

with child

a gasp, a cry

an exhausted mother’s sigh

a father’s teardrops

a heavenly umbilical cord cut and tied

a sweet aroma of fresh hay

a tiny gurgle as rosebud lips find milk

a whispered prayer

a naming as God commanded

a squeak of rafters as birds and mice gather

a gentle breeze to fan the fire

a clip and clop of a donkey’s feet

a quiet baa-aa and a hushed moo

a ray of starlight

a flutter of angel wings

a silence

a moment realizing God’s sacrifice-

His only son

a yip of a sheepdog on the hillside

an owl’s hoot as he hunts

a rowdy laugh from the inn

a braying camel on the dusty road

a mother and babe sleep

a father watches

an angel guards

a world waits

                          © 2005 Constance Gilbert

I keep Yeshua haMashiach (Jesus, the Messiah) deep in my heart as my comforter, encourager, and hope. I eagerly await His return when I can praise Him all day as part of His angelic choir.

I pray that you know Him, too.

   

Selah- think about these things

Connie

The Family Tree

If you visit me, you'll find one corner and the adjacent wall covered with trees. For me, they have multiple meanings. For my guests, they are conversation starters. Outside my front window is a plum tree that I call mine. I spend hours watching the birds come and go. 

Trees trigger feelings of calmness and peace even during a storm. As I reflect on the day of Jesus' birth, I sense some fear as Mary's labor intensified. Mary was so young; did she understand the birthing process? Or was the fear from Joseph. 

Was there anything Mary saw to calm her?

The baby born to Mary would become "a man of sorrows... familiar with suffering." (Isaiah 53:3) Those hardships began before he was even born. 

"Why now?" thought Joseph as he slowly walked home. He dreaded telling Mary that they would have to go to Bethlehem for the census reporting; it was going to be hard on her so close to her time. All the things she had made for the baby, the cradle he had made- none of it could go with them. Just a change of clothes and some food for the journey... they had room for no more. No family nor the old, but a good midwife of Nazareth would be there to help Mary through the birth. "Why now, Lord?" 

Gracious, sweet Mary reassured him that God would take care of them. Holding her aching back she went inside to prepare for their journey. It would take a long time to cover the 90 miles to Bethlehem. 

But all was as planned- one writer said, "Taxes were as good as any reason to get the Holy Family to Bethlehem" for God had said through Micah that the Savior of the World would come out of the little town of Bethlehem and would be a relative of Kind David. (Micah 5:2)

 Indeed both Mary and Joseph were of the house of David; their family tree is listed in Scripture. By the way, that tree contained David, whom God loved, and Boaz, a righteous man, married to Ruth, a gentile. Even Jesus' lineage indicated that He came for all the world.

 Joseph and Mary may have joined a caravan of other travelers also going to the place of their ancestry. Yet it would be a rugged trip. Whether walking or riding, Jesus was bouncing safely within Mary's womb. God would protect them, but that did not include making the trip any easier. More tough times were ahead: no place to stay in Bethlehem, no easy birth, no royal garments, Joseph would have to find work, Mary would feel all alone. 

Then another trip to escape into Egypt knowing innocent male babies under 2 years old were being slaughtered by Roman soldiers. 

Christmas card nativity scenes do not show the reality of Jesus' birth: Joseph mucking out a stall and lining it with clean straw, the smells and sounds of the animals, a rural town unprepared for the large number of travelers, limited food and water, only strips of cloth to wrap the baby, the fear when smelly shepherds arrived. 

... Mary pondered these things and tucked them away in her heart ... 

Selah- Shalom, Connie

Phantasmagorical

While reading a mystery by Elizabeth George, I noticed near the end she used phantasmagorical to describe the Detective Inspector's trip to find the woman he loved. Writers should not use words like that; they stop the reader and can distract them enough to lose the flow of the story. 

However, it was near the end and I was focusing on whether it would end "happily ever after." So I did not stop reading, but I did look it up in the dictionary. It means dreamlike, illusionary, or as an event swiftly changes; change the ph to an f and you'll recognize it as fantasy-like. 

Because it is Advent and I am contemplating the wonders of Christ's birth, I thought of Mary when the angel, Gabriel, told her that she was the chosen one to bear God's Son. I also thought of Joseph as Gabriel told him that Mary was telling him the truth; and of the old priest, Zechariah, when an angel told him that his barren wife Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, would bear a son. That son would be called John; he would prepare the way for Jesus' ministry including baptizing Jesus. 

Each event must have been phantasmagorical. If the foretold births had not taken place, Mary, Joseph, and Zechariah would have thought the angel was an illusion, a dream, a fantasy of the imagination. 

Gabriel and the angel, visiting the old priest, were messengers of God, who were preparing for God's mercy and love to be demonstrated through the birth and death of Jesus, God's only Son. A part of Himself had to come to earth for there is no sin in heaven... no death. He came to remove our separation from Him... to bring us back to Him, who created us. 

I love how Pastor Dr. Wilson* wrote it:

 God’s purpose in Christmas 

is to begin his mission 

to draw all mankind

     to himself through Christ.

🎵 Amazing love, how can it be ...🎵

Selah- 

Shalom, Connie

_______________

*Wilson, Ralph F.. 28 Advent Scriptures: Readings and Resources for the Christmas Season (p. 106). JesusWalk Publications. Kindle Edition.