Touching Wonder by John Blase

Author:John Blase
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christmas, Christmas Story, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, short story
Publisher: David C. Cook
Published: 2012-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Mary

The time was coming for me to give birth.

Joseph pleaded, “Mary, stay and rest. I’ll just be a moment.”

But I would not. I was afraid. God’s sentinel had told me that I would be the mother of the hoped-for One. Courage arose in me that I knew not, and I said, “Let it be to me.”

But that was nine months past. A glorious beginning had leveled off to an ordinary middle. There were no more angels or prophecies or leaping wombs. There were only crowds and noise. And fear.

“Joseph, I will be fine. I want to walk a little. Maybe it will hasten the time. Just let it be.”

Tenderness. The ability to be still, to pause, to make space for the Mighty One’s hand. It is a trait not always seen in the sons of Adam. But it accurately describes the life of Joseph. It was Joseph’s gift to me in that town of no room.

We walked only steps from the stable. He had to do one last thing concerning the registration in his ancestral hometown. But we never made it to the official’s desk.

We were standing in a line of six or seven people. Joseph was in front of me, and I stood behind with my forehead pressed between his shoulder blades. I had not been able to see my feet in months, but suddenly I felt them. Wet and warm. A dog sitting nearby came and licked the sand.

Joseph must have sensed the dog and turned to shoo him away, but he stayed his hand when he saw the ground beneath my feet.

Tenderness knew that Quirinius did not govern moments such as these. Joseph’s ropy arms encircled me and led my shuffling, wet feet from our place in line. We took a journey back to the stable that made the trip to Bethlehem pale.

After two steps a tightening bent me double. This was not like the earlier stirrings in my belly. When I was able to resume walking, the stillness caught us unawares. All the activity around us had ceased: the exchange of census information, the men talking, the dog licking the watered sand. Everyone and everything stared at us—tenderly, I thought. I believe both man and beast knew, if only for a moment, that the time was coming.

Joseph picked me up. With one arm around my waist, he bent and cradled my knees with the other. He rose and began to carry me. I do not know how this man did many of the things he did, things unrecorded for history. I am only thankful he did them.

Gabriel had said, “Mary, you have nothing to fear.”

As I lay on my back, I searched the openings of light in the roof for an angelic return. I needed to hear those words again. But I could not. My hearing was dulled, but I smelled everything. Wet hay. Joseph’s sweat. The dung of oxen and sheep. Someone frying bread nearby. And I smelled my own fear.

I felt everything as well. The hay pricking my calves.

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