Advent 2021

The season of Advent is a journey that begins with a rough start. As a husband myself, I cannot imagine how Joseph was feeling when he and Mary arrived in Bethlehem, night was falling, and he couldn’t find a place for he and Mary to stay. Then she goes into labor, and again, as a person who has been around my wife when giving birth, it is not the sort of thing I would want to experience for the first time, or any time, alone. Then you have Mary going through this whole thing alone for the first time, and I am not capable of even beginning to understand what was going through her heart and mind. Maybe it was all good, but before they went through it there had to be some pretty serious concern. The contrast of the dark of an uncertain night and the relief of sunrise is expressed throughout scripture, when joy comes with the morning.

Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
– Psalm 30:4-5