I don't really want to search google for a picture to add here of a woman in labor, but I think we have all seen the pictures of the woman screaming with the doctor ready to catch the baby and the husband at her head... in complete shock.... have you ever really thought about the night that Jesus was born... and Joseph... and what he thought... allow me to think out loud for a minute.... nothing based on Biblical facts.... just what I think.
There were no doctors to tell that Mary was dilated or ready to push or if the baby was breech....I'd like to think that God blessed her with an easy delivery, but somehow I think that God let her go through what most women do during labor. My pregnancies were terrible... I had c-sections with no pain... and my babies were precious.... some people have it the other way around... you know... easy pregnancies... natural delivery... and bad children! I won out on that one! As I think of Joseph... I know Jesus was the perfect child... so I have to think that the delivery was a hard one.
Delivery is nothing a woman wants to go through alone, and I don't believe that Joseph left her alone... I believe that he was there for her ...by her side every minute... he probably held her hand when she cried... he probably pulled her hair back from her face while she was pushing... he probably told her how proud he was of her as he looked into the face of the newborn baby. Most new wives think that the day they get married is the day they love their husband the most, but for me... I'll never forget the day KB was born... it's a new kind of love... when you see a father hold the baby for the first time.
As you think about the Nativity scene... and Joseph... think of his sacrifice for doing the right thing and staying with a bad situation.... think about how he was there for Mary... and think of how he probably was overjoyed with relief as he watched the birth of his child....
Think of how happy God is when we accept him as our father... how happy he is to hold us in his arms.... how happy he is when we look up to him and smile with tears in our eyes.... Joseph stuck with the bad situation just like God sticks with us even when it would be easier to kick us to the curb. God sticks with us when we are sinful, when we are jealous, when we are mean, when we are boastful... yeah, I just used characteristics to describe myself... but I know He sticks with me... just like Joseph was there for every second of Mary's delivery... When I look at Joseph... I know that God can love me just like Joseph loved Jesus... he wasn't his biological father... but he loved him anyway... God isn't my biological father... but he loves me even more than Daddy did. If He can love me... I can love everyone! If He can forgive me... I can forgive others!
Love your children... even when they do wrong, they make bad choices, they drive you crazy... love them through the bad times. If God can love us... we can love them. Thank you Lord for giving us Joseph as a role model to love those who aren't our biological kin... let me always look to Joseph in the Nativity scene, instead of skipping over him, and know that You put him there for me to see a man who loves even in situations that aren't the best.
Amen!
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