The gift of love and feeling safe is usually not found within our fears. However, when life becomes so overwhelming you can’t breathe you can choose to change your focus. Look away from the big and scary, the all consuming darkness. For it is then you notice the flicker of light calling you on towards the simpler ways that bring life and love and hope.
As Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem there must have been a big dose of fear mingled with excited expectancy. Somehow they did not let the many miles of travel ahead of them deter their trip. Mary was large with child. I’m sure she questioned in her mind “could the donkey carry her all the way, what if she fell off if he stumbled, their place to stay is still up in the air”. Joseph must have pondered his own concerns as he walked along leading the donkey. Yet neither of them were persuaded that it was too big a risk to go for their faith was stronger than their fears.
Love, Hope, Expectancy, and Purpose drove them on one step at a time. They just kept going forward. And, when they saw the lights of the city flickering from afar they must have breathed a sigh of relief.
“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.” Proverbs 4:25