The shepherds are my favorite group of Christmas characters. I think if I could choose to be at one place during that miraculous event or be one of the characters myself – it would have been the shepherds. I love their enthusiasm. Their willingness to go. How they told others the good news. I have been rereading slowly the Christmas story as part of my Advent preparation, finding new insights and lessons. What did the shepherds show me this year? “So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger”. Be open to change – I resist shifts in my plans. I get my to do list ready, my trajectory in line and I start. Don’t stop me once I begin my routine. I hate getting sidetracked. But the shepherds knew better. They knew God likes to surprise us and reminds us He is in charge. And what a gift to follow God’s unexpected leads in life. One night, one moment in time one powerful encounter with God will forever change our lives if we only follow and … [Read more...]

Did you ever stop to consider who actually delivered Jesus when he was born? This year during Advent I have been slowly rereading the story of Christ’s birth, relooking at some of the characters and listening for new lessons. Many of you know I am an RN and the nurse in me became a bit puzzled, curious and more than a little interested thinking about the actual childbirth scene in Bethlehem that night. We really don’t know the technicalities of Jesus’ birth but this nurse wondered. Who delivered Jesus? Mary was young. This was her first baby. She went into labor away from her home. Bethlehem at that time was quite small – I read some sources saying maybe 200 or 500 people lived there. Who helped her? Perhaps Joseph. After all he was present and tenderly cared for Mary. But men usually didn’t assist with childbirth. Perhaps some other unnamed female traveler provided aid. Perhaps a local midwife. I did read that our perception of the manger scene is unrealistic … [Read more...]

Zachariah is one of the Christmas characters we often don’t deliberately ponder this season. I thought this year I would slowly read the story of Christ’s birth, relook at some of the characters and listen for new lessons. Zachariah invited me in to sit with him for a while. I reread his story from Luke. I remembered he served as a priest, was married to Elizabeth, was the father, late in his life, of John the Baptist, and when he doubted Gabriel’s message about the coming baby, he became mute until John was born. 6 Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. 7 But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years. 8 Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. 10 Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole … [Read more...]