Joseph writes:
We accompanied one of our hosts at work today – he sits in one of the rooms of the house in front of a couple of screens and types frantically! Work, of course, is something dear to my own heart – I’m rarely happier then when I’m working wood. ‘Joseph the Worker’ the children sometimes call me back home when passing by, through clouds of saw dust. So I understand the need for God to bless our working lives too, and I know he is there in each moment, each decision, each hardship, each mundane task. I hope our host feels this too. Work is how we provide for the ones we love and I hope I honour God in the way I provide for Mary in her need.
I have a new focus now though, a new journey.
In fact, two new journeys.
First, to Bethlehem. I am blessed to be descended from the royal house of King David. That may look good on the cv, but with this new Census being called by the Romans, it requires me to travel to my ‘own town’ to be registered. That, given my lineage, is Bethlehem of course. It would be inconvenient and difficult normally – having Mary with child as well is that much harder.
The second journey is one of the soul and of the heart. Something has changed within me this past year. The circumstances in which I find myself and Mary would have ripped other peoples’ worlds apart. For me though, I know something incredible is happening. I feel closer to Mary than ever before. And I feel bound up with something of God’s own making – something that is much bigger than a breathless journey to Bethlehem; bigger than us; bigger than the Romans; bigger than even I can imagine or hope for. God has come close to both Mary and I in this past year in a way I can’t really put into words; it’s like the breath within me has changed.
I am apprehensive yes, and worried for my Mary. But I know my second journey is gradually making sense of the first.
So let us continue, to work His purpose out.
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