Placed

             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. (Luke 2:4-7, New International Version)

I’ve written my blog posts this month around various words which begin with the letter P. Today, Christmas Eve, I had to share these verses from the book of Luke, which include only two words that begin with a P. Pledge is the same thing as promise, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. And that leaves us with the word placed.

Picture the young – and exhausted – new mother Mary gently placing her newborn Son in the manger filled with straw. She might have laid back on some straw herself, while Joseph stood nearby, attentive and alert. Baby Jesus looked around his surroundings, at the rough stable walls, perhaps carved out of stone. He listened to the cows lowing and the other livestock settling in to sleep. Can you imagine what he smelled? Probably not freshly mown hay, but more like freshly deposited animal waste.

God hears, sees, smells, and feels everything we do, but this was the first time he experienced those sensations through a human body.  

Just as Mary placed her Baby Boy in the manger, God has placed certain gifts on our hearts. Hope, peace, love. This year at Christmas, focus on those gifts, the things you have inside of you, instead of the external chaos the world inflicts upon you.

May God bless you with hope, peace, and love this Christmas and all year long.