Long Before We Hold The Baby The Baby Holds Us

​“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 was expecting a child.”

(Luke 2:4-5)

It makes it sounds so simple, doesn't it? Joseph and Mary were expecting a child and went to Bethlehem.

That hardly tells the story.

First, let's think about the physical challenges of this. Mary was VERY LATE in her pregnancy with this expected child. All mamas know all the discomforts that can come with that. (In ways we dads sure can't imagine!!).

And then this trip to Bethlehem was roughly 70-90 miles or rugged terrain depending on the route. So the physical challenge for Mary, likely alternating between walking and riding a donkey to find the most traveling comfort for a week or more, had to be excruciating at times.

I would never go so far as to compare Mary's pain to that of Jesus on the cross, but it's not lost on me the bookends of suffering that is the life of Christ.

Then there was also the spiritual aspect of it all. I mean, we all know how hard it gets to keep the faith when the physical tolls of life mount upon us. But Mary and Joseph believed they were carrying the son of God with them, the hope of the world, I can't imagine how much they had to trust God's promise along that journey.

Mental and emotional health challenges weren't invented in the 21st century. So just what were the emotions Mary and Joseph battled along the way - the crying, the confusion, the fears, the moments of just wanting to quit.

As a man I can't imagine how lost Joseph felt, having no idea what to do or to say to sooth his young bride.

To lead her in faith.

The birth of Christ is certainly miraculous, but there was no shortage of miracles on the way to that birth.

We sometimes miss that in our own lives, I think. The miracles happening along the way. We miss the truth that transformation doesn't happen when we arrive in Bethlehem, but indeed a lot of it happens on the way there.

Because transformation is miraculous.

I can't imagine arriving in the Bethlehem of my life, where I will encounter face to face the baby Jesus, without having experienced the miracles of that baby along the way.

I can't imagine arriving there without having experienced the transformation from self-destructive choices to choices that construct hope and healing in my life and in the lives of others.

I can't imagine arriving there without having experienced the transformation from being a man who never ever wanted a child to a dad whose life has been totally renewed through the love of and for his two sons.

I can't imagine arriving there without having experienced the transformation from a man totally lost in his own need for healing to a man totally on fire for bringing healing to the world.

This man - me - who will arrive in Bethlehem, is not the man who set out on this journey to get there. I've experienced many miracles along the way.

And many more, I trust, are on the way.

I can't imagine how much more beautiful it was for Mary and Joseph to hold that precious baby Jesus for the very first time after experiencing so many of his miracles on the way to holding him.

For those of us who believe we too will one day hold that baby in Bethlehem, it's worth recognizing the miracles we have experienced on our way there. What better way is there to experience the spirit of Christmas than acknowledging that long before we will hold that baby in a manger, he has been holding us?

We are heading for our chance to hold that baby. But don't let the destination blind you from the reality that today, that baby is already holding you.

We don't have to wait for Christmas.

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 1:6)