“Honey, it’s time!”

These words have brought both fear and joy all at once for fathers since Adam and Eve and the birth of Cain and Abel. Joseph must have bolted upright from his bed of hay. The scripture provides no details of what happened next. It is possible that Joseph hurried away to find a midwife or doctor to assist with the birth. We don’t know the details, but we know the time came for the baby Jesus to be born.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Luke 2:6-7 NIV

Mary gave birth naturally there in the stable-no epidural, no monitors, no sterile environment, no safety precautions. Could people hear her childbirth pains through the surrounding neighborhood? Did they hear the first cry of the new-born baby Jesus? Did the town have any idea that God was alive in the stable behind the inn?

Once the chaos of the birth calmed, the scripture says that Mary swaddled the baby Jesus and placed him in a feeding trough which would temporarily serve as a make-shift cradle until they could get a room in Bethlehem. As they couldn’t travel with a new infant for some time, Mary and Joseph would now call Bethlehem home.

What started with startling visits an from angel of the Lord has now culminated in the infant son of God being held with wonder in the arms of a teenage girl. The wait is over-the King has come!

Prayer Emphasis: Ask God to help you believe that everything happens in His timing according to His will regardless of how crazy circumstances may get.

For Family Discussion…
Christmas carols tend to depict the birth of Christ as this quiet peaceful event with the light from the star shining down on the couple and illuminating the stable with soft light. Do you think this depiction is accurate? Describe how you think it really looked and sounded that night.