I Wonder

I often find myself wondering about the non-essentials of Christ’s birth...

I wonder how long Mary labored.

I wonder what the weather was like that Middle Eastern night when Mary and Joseph entered the City of David. Since the shepherds were outside with their flocks, it couldn’t have been too crisp an evening. I wonder if it was actually hot.

I wonder if Jesus was born in the evening or in the wee hours of the morning.

I wonder if other women came to help her, or was it only Joseph by her side.

I wonder if Joseph remained calm.

I wonder if Mary and Joseph felt twinges of misplaced guilt about laying down the Son of God in an animal trough.

I wonder if baby Jesus sucked in His first earthly breath and exhaled with a blustery cry.

I wonder what Jesus looked like as a baby. Was His skin robust and pink? Was He thin or pudgy; long or short? Did He have a head full of black curly hair, or was His hair straight, shaggy and a shade of dark brown? Perhaps he was born without hair. I cannot imagine a bald baby Jesus, but it is possible that He was.

I wonder what words Mary first whispered to her firstborn son.

I wonder if Joseph's eyes misted when he saw his young bride holding her firstborn son.

I wonder if Mary gave her newborn a nickname or if she only called Him Jesus.

I wonder if Joseph carved presents for Mary and the boy he would raise as his own.

I wonder what Jesus thought. Did His earthly body immediately possess the mind of a divine being, or did that come later?

I wonder if the animals knew that they shared their home with their Creator.

I wonder if people who had not even heard of the Savior's birth felt an inexplicable joy and a new found hope.

I wonder if the knees of the shepherds trembled as they knelt before the tiny King or if they felt only a mixture of peace and awe.

As I wonder about the unknowns of that most holy night, I remember with wonder what I do know as truth. Awe captures my breath as I visualize the Almighty God being born a poor baby who would become the ransom for the souls of every man and woman. How amazing is that grace of which I am in wonder.

"About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books. These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David's hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David's family.

Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby, and while they were there, she gave birth to her first-born son.
She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn."
Luke 2:1-7