Looking for safety and warmth.

Day 21 of the Advent posts and I don’t know if I should go to a heavy topic or stay light as we all get into vacation mode.  It’s Saturday, the first day for many to be away from work.  Lots of businesses have shut down during Christmas week.  Today is also the first day of winter – officially.

So, what should my word be?

This morning I struggle…

Safety?   I hope all the travelers out there get where they are going safely.  I hope flights are on time, roads are smooth and without major backups.   For me:   I have learned to stay away from the craziness of travel during holidays and it has given me less stress.  I pray that those in the air and on the roads arrive to where they are going without losing their ‘holiday spirit.’

Winter?   My least favorite season of the year.   I’m not a cold weather person and even though I am fortunate to live in the south where cold is not nearly as cold as other places, I still dislike it.

Bringing it back to Advent,  I think about how Mary & Joseph sure had a hard journey, traveling with just a donkey and their few possessions, looking for a place to  be safe.  Mary was about to deliver a baby and they had nobody to help them.  No place at the end of the trip to look forward to getting to.   We  don’t know all the particulars, like how they got food.  Did people along their trip give some help?   They were escaping their homeland.  They were refugees… looking for safety.  Going it alone.   Scared.   Unsure of the future.

In that part of the world the weather is different than here.  I’m not sure in wintertime how cold it gets in the Mideast, but I can guess the nights were very chilly.   Back then there was just a fire to gather around for warmth.   Can you imagine delivering a baby without clean conditions and warmth?      Oh my.

It seems so very long ago, but yet people in our world today are dealing with the same issues.  Running from dictators.  Looking for a place to call home… a place to be safe.  A place to be warm.   Somewhere to live peacefully.

At Christmas I can’t help but think that Jesus started out as a child of refugees.