When it came time for Mary to deliver I wonder what she felt like.
Not knowing what to expect and not having a doctor to discuss with her how it all would take place.
I wonder how did she know what to do?
She might have been told by Elizabeth but she had never had a child either.
Joseph most likely was no help other than to support her in the best way he could.
His experience was as minimal as hers.
How would they deliver a little baby in a stable filled with animal smells and perhaps nothing clean to lay down on?
There might have been the blanket that was on the donkey covered in donkey hair and matted smells after the long journey.
Perhaps Joseph tore his robe and made a comfortable bed of cloth for her.
I don’t imagine they packed much on the donkey as they began their journey.
This stable or barn or whatever it was had no comforts of home for her.
There are so many questions and we have no answers.
Mary was to deliver her baby without pain medications and without family support.
Could God have eased her pain miraculously?
Perhaps the innkeepers wife came and helped out.
We are not told of the details.
We don’t even know if there was fresh water to wash the baby off with after the birthing process.
Or a light of some sort to even see the newly born baby.
So much is not shared.
So much we have to guess and fill in our own blanks.
So much is prophetic yet so much is so normal.
Just like the young mom who had no choice but to stop and lay down and deliver
the baby who was to be born.
In a town called Bethlehem life took place and hope came into the world.
In a town called Bethlehem the cries of a young family took place.
The wonder. The majesty. The fulfillment of all they had been told.
A new baby was to be born.
Their baby.
Would change the world.