From the Journal of Miriam (Mary), the mother of Jesus:
I’ll never forget that night. It wasn’t all that long ago. Ah, the little boy is growing up. Just turned two at his last birthday.
So, that night… Jacob, oh my, had been running crazy. We had to get to Bethlehem for the Census. His family is from this region. The four day journey on that donkey? Yes, of course, I grumbled and complained almost non-stop. I told him we couldn’t go to Bethlehem for the baby was due any day. He told me we had to do what the law required. And so, we went. Dear sweet Jacob. We looked all over town for a suitable place. And at each door we knocked, the pain only intensified. The contractions were closer and closer. The hour was later and later. Jacob was at his wit’s end. “Oih vey, it wasn’t supposed to be this way,” he said over and over mostly to no one in particular. And when he finally found me a place, it was really not a suitable place at all. Of course, I told him it would be fine, but inside my head I kept thinking, “No, no, no! This is not what we had planned.” The air was damp. There was a cow and her nursing calf less than ten feet away! The place smelled! All we had was a single candle, we could hardly see.
The agony of the labor. The challenges of the delivery. I had no mid-wife. Unless you consider Jacob. But he was venturing into places few husbands ever go. This was the hardest thing I have ever done! And yes, there was much pain, and much blood. And even though Jacob held my hand, I felt very much alone. But all of that changed in an instant. When that little child was born… it was all so worth it! It was amazing. You wouldn’t believe the little glint in his eyes or the turned up smiled of his pursed lips.
Oh dear Yahweh! I kept thinking, “How am I going to be able to be the mother to this child, Your son? He’s so perfect. And we are so not perfect. I mean, look at this place where he was born. Such an awful, smelly place! And we are so ordinary people. We are obviously not wealthy. Where was I to put him to rest? In the cow’s manger, the feed trough? Really?” I wrapped him in the only cloths we had and laid him down and he went fast asleep. Jacob said we are to give the boy the name Yeshua, “Yahweh saves.”
Some shepherds came to visit us. Who knows how they found us? I’m reminded of the prophet Micah who said that Messiah will come from Bethlehem and will shepherd his flock in the strength of Yahweh.
Even now, I wonder how Yahweh will use this sweet child? Will He be a mighty warrior like David?
This has been such an amazing experience! I continued to ponder and treasure every moment as I watched him rest that night in that unlikely crib. “Impossible,” I thought. But then I remembered the words of the angel nine months prior – the message of the manger: “Nothing is impossible with God.”
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