Bethlehem in Burnett

Christmas makes me so sentimental. Just thinking about what it must have been like on that first Christmas. I know that night probably wasn't quiet like we think...it was more like the outlet malls 2 days before Christmas. Everyone was coming into Bethlehem to pay their taxes and all the rooms were full. And with all those angels singing and the cattle lowing...not to mention Mary had just given birth, who could sleep? Mothers, do you remember what it was like that day for you? Anxious? Tense? Painful? Did you cry? Remember what it was like the first time you gazed on the most amazing thing God had ever created? Were you filled with fear for the responsibility you now held in your hands? Were you numb, the reality of it all not fully being realized? Did you feel unequiped, unprepared? And your baby grows...think of all the hopes you hold for them, how they delight you. Mary, just 14, with the Son of God...WOW. So I tend to get a little weepy thinking about my God, as a baby, with everything all planned out for me and mine. "The Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost". What an amazing night. When I get there, I may ask to see the DVD of that night, relived in surround sound with the light show and everything.

Okay, so tonight we drove to Burnett for the live Bethlehem display. I'm not sure who loved it more, me or the kids (I'm guessing me). They had it all in this little city...camels, sheep, fresh bread, a tavern with harlots and drunks, centurian soldiers, high priests... But the best part, the part we had been talking about all night, was at the very end. What thrilled me was while I watched Mary and Joseph with the baby, Emma was right beside me, quietly watching also. People walked by, some barely noticing the scene, not unlike the actual night. But we were still, watching. It was like, even though she knew he was the "pretend baby Jesus" (as she says), she picked up on the reverence. It's so exciting to me when one of my children seems to "get it". With all the talking, praying, scriptures, you just never know if one will believe and another will reject. So I take the moments as they come and then pray that whatever seed of faith that I have planted that God will water it.