The Spirit of Christmas will change your life
Ideal is the last word you would use to describe that first Christmas.
Mary was nine months pregnant and making a long journey on a donkey. She was not yet married, and tongues wagged. How many of their friends really believed this story about a miraculous conception? She and Joseph traveled to his ancestral home for the census. Their nation was occupied by a foreign power, and the trip was all so that Rome could collect taxes. They arrive in Bethlehem, and there is no place to stay. There is no room at the inn, and they wind up in the stable out back, with some animals.
That first Christmas was not pretty. And then who shows up to welcome Jesus’ birth? The grandparents are not there in the waiting room. Excited friends do not arrive with “It’s a Boy” balloons. The pastor does not stop by. Local dignitaries do not arrive to welcome the birth of this holy child. No, the only visitors are strangers – rough shepherds.
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