Happy Christmas to you, my dear reader!

I can’t believe we’ve made it the whole way to Christmas Day. What an epic journey it has been. I feel exhausted.

I also feel I wouldn’t have completed the po-mo minor character perspectives in the nativity, if I didn’t end it with a wooden or stone box’s view on all things.

But frankly, it’s not as though the manger had any say in it. Mary and Joseph didn’t have any say in it either. There was no other option:

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. 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.

It was a packed house in Bethlehem that night, thanks to Caesar Augustus. There really was no other option available.

It’s like Mary gave birth whilst on a camping trip because she basically did. And it’s times like when you’re camping that you improvise and ‘just make do’ with whatever seems to be the best, most convenient option. Sure, you really stink, but you’ll shower when you get home tomorrow.

Having done a few Duke of Edinburgh hikes in high school, it brings a real tangibility to what it would have been like for Mary. Imagine doing those hikes whilst pregnant. And then giving birth at the end of it. And then, you’ve got no where to put your precious baby boy except for a box which the animals have slobbered in just a moment ago. It’s the best, most convenient option.

Wow. Not fun. And not hygienic.

I really hope there weren’t any animals around because that would have been really confusing for them too.

The whole thing is so unusual and out of the ordinary, isn’t it? A baby in a feeding trough. That’s something that you don’t see every day.

And maybe that’s the point God is making. That is, this baby is not just your ordinary baby. Step back and look at the manger and consider him afresh.

I hope you’ve been able to do that in the lead up to Christmas this year, either through these posts or in other ways. I hope that you’ve seen the pieces being put together, followed the star and then been able to consider the nativity perhaps from a new angle.

I hope also that you’ve been encouraged by how the God of The Bible is a God in control of all things. He promises and then brings his word to fulfilment. Nothing and no one can stand in his way.

In this truth, I pray you rejoice and wish you a very happy day.

Yours smiling at God’s goodness to us all,

Alison