Adventure - Day 25

When my first child was born, he was beautiful, healthy, and a crier.  Man that kid could blow the windows out of a house.  But he also had an issue; he was colicky and had acid reflux, which mainly meant that for 7 months, he rarely slept more than two hours at a time.  This means, of course, that his parents rarely slept more than two hours at a time (and if you’ve seen me, you know I need my beauty sleep).

To this day, I still have a hard time when I ask new parents how they’re doing with sleep and they respond with things like, “Great actually, he/she started sleeping through the night on day two.” I smile and nod, but on the inside I’m thinking, “this world is too easy for you.”

But regardless as to whether or not your child physically sleeps through the night, from the moment you become parents, sleep is just different for you.  You sleep with one eye open, so to speak, ready in case your child needs anything.  Maybe they wake up from a bad dream, or develop a fever, or hear a noise outside that frightens them.  Of course, those are the kinds of things you lose sleep over when they’re young.  When they turn teenagers, you lose sleep over entirely different things (as I’m writing this, my eyes are heavy from staying up until 1am this past morning to make sure my son got home safe from a light night drive home from college).

Like all parents, I’m sure Mary and Joseph lost plenty of sleep over Jesus as well.  From the normal aspects of being parents, dirty diapers (yes, Jesus had those), coughs, outside noises, and so on, to what must have often been an overwhelming feeling of the responsibility of raising the Savior of the world.  Mary and Joseph are two of my favorite heroes of the Scriptures.

Then there was that night, when Jesus was nearly two years old, when we’re told…

“After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
Matthew 2:13-15 NLT

Think of all that Mary and Joseph endured to do their part in bringing the Savior to the world.  First there was accepting the truth of what the angel told them.  Then there was having to face family and friends who would not believe their story, and who likely ostracized them for their choices.  Then they travel to Bethlehem, with Mary ready to burst.  Then angels, shepherds, wise men…it was all a whirlwind.  Then visions and fleeing the country in the middle of the night, only to live in a new land and try to make ends meet.

Mary and Joseph gave so much to bring Jesus into the world, and it makes me ask myself the question, what am I willing to do to continue that process?  What will I give up?  What will I sacrifice?  

JOURNAL

1. What kinds of things cause you to lose sleep at night?
2. What might God be asking you to do in this season of life to help bring Jesus into our world?
3. Are you afraid to answer that question?  If so, why?  If not, why not?  The call of God can often push us out of our comfort zones, into the unknown, which can be scary.
4. What do you think would happen if you truly leaned in and gave your all to Jesus?