And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
Luke 2:4-6 (ESV)
When I read the Bible, I try my best to put myself in the situation or think about how I would react. If I can be honest with you guys, when I read this part of the story, this is where my mind goes. First, if this were me…I’d be trying to figure out what we are going to do. We are going to be parents to the Son of God, no less! And now, I have to go register for the census.
We plan the trip. We get everything we need to prepare, and we make the journey. But of course, as soon as we get there, it happens. The baby is coming! I wish I could tell you that I would be responding at that moment like Jack Pearson from This is Us, the perfect husband, and dad. Unfortunately, I know myself. I would be full of emotions and frustrations.
My wife and I talk about this kind of thing all the time. We cannot control everything, but for me, that is always hard to process. I love to think I am a go-with-the-flow kind of person and most of the time I would say I am. But when I have a mission and it gets interrupted, I can get frustrated.
I think that is part of the reason the Christmas season used to be so hard for me. I had this picture from all the Christmas movies and stories that I wanted to happen. Occasionally, they did, but a lot of times, they didn’t. So instead of just going with it, I would be upset. I used to blame that on other people. Like how could you do that? It’s Christmas! Or I would blame it on how commercialized Christmas was, making me not want to celebrate it much.
You know what I learned though? Christmas is about Jesus. God sent his Son because his plan is way better than our plan. God has a pretty good sense of humor, too. He sent me a wife who loves all things Christmas. And now, being a dad, I love watching our family enjoy the season.
You don’t have to plan everything and have it all go right for it to be a season of joy and love. Remember, his plan is better than we could imagine, so trust in him. I guarantee if you can do that you will see more joy in your life than you think possible. I never knew I could love Christmas the way that I do now.
