Luke 1:26-38, Luke 2:1-19, Isaiah 53:2-3

Are you a planner or more of last minute, fly by the seat of your pants kind of person? I am a planner. Not only do I like to know what is happening, but when, how, and with who. I like all the details up front. I make lists ALL THE TIME, to keep me and mine on track. Although I’m way better than I used to be, (God has graciously put some friends in my life that have helped with this over planning tendency since they only do last minute) there are times when last minute people or plan changes rub me the wrong way.

At times I wonder how much I miss out on by living my life as a planner? Granted this year has been full of changed plans for everyone! All of us have we experienced unwanted plan and schedule changes, in some cases several times in the same day or week. However, before 2020 reared its ugly head, my life and that of family was not going as we had planned. Unexpected and unwanted job changes, college plans that went up in smoke, medical issues, etc. have had us constantly adjusting our plans. Not that we had a full list of what our life would look like every single year, but we did have a general direction in mind.

What does any of this have to do with Christmas? The events we talk about as part of the Christmas story were not planned out, organized, or publicized, at least not by us human beings. They weren’t neat and clean. They weren’t scheduled, creatively packaged or even marketed like we might think they should have been or like we would do today. Instead, they were messy, confusing, dirty, frightening and yet- somehow absolutely amazing.

Let’s take Mary for example. By all accounts a young teenager (probably high school age), already engaged – meaning Mary and Joseph’s parents had agreed to and arranged their marriage. Anyway, there Mary is minding her own business when an angel appears and begin speaking to her. Having been around a lot of teenage girls I can only imagine the high-pitched scream that had to have come from Mary at this startling sight. Somehow this angel gets Mary calmed down enough to say “guess what, God thinks you’re pretty cool, so you’re going to have a baby” (my paraphrase). Talk about being freaked out, confused and just plain awestruck! I can’t even imagine this interaction as a 50-year-old, let alone being a teenager!

It’s not over there – the awkward part is just beginning. She now has to tell everyone including her parents, and husband to be that she is pregnant, but it’s ok because well, because God made it happen. Can you even imagine the points, the guilty stares and gossip!? There is no way those were an easy nine months. But wait- fast forward nine months and now she finds herself riding on a dirty smelly donkey to Bethlehem. Again, nothing is planned, no Airbnb reservations have been made, no uber, no drive thru, no QT!! None of this seems like what you would expect for the mother of our Savior, does it? But here they are Mary and Joseph traveling across the dusty, dirty roads, tired and more than likely a little cranky. Can you just imagine the conversation? “Mary, are you sure we heard all this correctly?” “I don’t know Joseph! Do you think this is what I wanted?”. I mean you can’t really blame them – it doesn’t seem like the way the promised Messiah would be coming into the world.

Somehow, Joseph finds a stable for them to rest in. And this stable is not the cute, quaint little one we often have displayed at Christmastime – no it’s dark, dirty and smelly. It had not been cleaned, sanitized or in any way prepared for a birth. There were no doctors or nurses or midwives, just a young couple wondering what in the world was going on and how they were going to get through the night, let alone raise this child of God. We don’t know how long her labor was or how difficult it might have been. All we know is what the Bible tells us “she brought forth a son, wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger.” There we no soft snuggly baby blankets or cute little sleepers to dress this young King. The bed was not soft and fresh smelling, instead an animal trough had been converted to a bed for this new baby.

So, this baby comes, this tiny little, cute, crying baby. This baby who is supposed to be the long-awaited Messiah. I mean can you even comprehend the emotions and thoughts flying through their heads? Being a new parent is hard enough, but being a parent to God’s Son! The Bible doesn’t say much here, only that “Mary treasured these things up in heart and pondered them.” That’s it, that is all we know about how this young mom handled this historical and long-awaited event.

Isn’t that the way it is with God though? His ways are not ours. His plans are nothing like ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). God does his best work in the dirty, messy and smelly places of our lives. A little bit of obedience can lead to some pretty miraculous things. Yet we get frustrated and discouraged because our lives are not going the way we have planned. Things are falling apart, loved ones are getting sick and dying, relationships are ending or never really starting, we get mad, we search for fulfillment and answers that we don’t find – because we look in the wrong places. We look towards wrong things and people, instead of Jesus. We can learn a thing or two from Mary and how she handled this life altering event. While Mary knew that the baby, she was holding was God’s, there was much she did not know. Today we have the benefit of knowing the rest of the story. We know that this baby was the One who made a way for you and me, that he was beaten, mocked and crucified to save us and that he did so willingly and out of obedience.

What if instead of getting frustrated and angry, we like Mary took take time to “ponder”? What if instead of trying to force and manipulate our plans we took time to “store up these treasures”? What if instead of becoming depressed and bitter we took time to meditate on our God. What if instead of running to what we know won’t satisfy long term we ran to and talked to Jesus?

God is the master planner! He has always had a plan and still does-even though it may not seem like it right now. I’m not saying it’s easy, because I’m right there with you thinking “what in the world is happening and God, it’s not supposed to be this way!” But one thing God has shown us time and time again is that amazing and miraculous things come from the most unlikely people and places!