Currently, as I write this, my one-year-old is “ballerina dancing” on the coffee table to the classical music playing in the room. Her hands are above her head, and she’s making clumsy, wobbly spins with a big, goofy grin. The living room is a mess, a pot of chili is cooling on the kitchen counter from dinner waiting for someone to put it away, and this mama is ready for bedtime.

Nothing is wrong. The kids aren’t misbehaving– except that I’d like the toddler to dance on the floor, not the coffee table– and there is no pressing things that have to be completed in the next hour, but I feel overwhelmed. And a part of me wonders: I wonder if Mary felt this way?

When I was a kid, I was always confused as to why Jesus was considered a part of Joseph’s bloodline. I mean, Jesus and Joseph shared no physical blood. Jesus was conceived with no participation from Joseph, so how could the Bible claim Jesus as a part of Joseph’s lineage?

Over the past six months, I’ve touched a few times on how we can see God the Father alluding to Jesus and the coming cross over and over again throughout the Old Testament. The first we see it is in Genesis 3, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Or when we focused on Genesis 15, where God made the old covenant with Abram as groundwork for the new covenant that Jesus’ blood would afford us.

n this season, we celebrate Jesus, our Savior being born in a manger in Bethlehem. Our God needed to come to this world to save us– His people– and He decided to come in the form of a baby through the virgin Mary. In this season of family and holiday excitement, it can be very easy to forget what we are truly celebrating and that is one of the most beautiful of miracles the world has ever seen.

Hey Pops, I find myself longing for you more and more these days. I know what it feels like to be so close to your side, and I miss that. Like Mary, I’ve sat at your feet and listened carefully and hungrily to your every word. I know what it’s like to live so intimately with you, so when I start to run dry, I feel it harshly.

Just over a month after Jesus’ birth, Mary and Joseph took their newborn to Jerusalem to dedicate Him back to the Lord, as was customary for firstborn sons in that time. They were prepared to sacrifice two turtle doves in the temple and present Him as His parents back to God. What they didn’t expect to encounter was Simeon.

Maybe it’s a little cliché, but I think this passage of the Christmas story is my favorite. Whenever I read it, I can’t help but feel such wonder for the moment. Mary, a young Nazarene girl goes from unseen and simple to the living proof of God’s amazing power and love.

Step into Mary’s shoes for just a moment. She recently heard from an angel that she was chosen out of all women to give birth to Jesus, the One the prophets and scriptures spoke about, the One her nation has waited for since its very beginning. Yet ever since this wonderful and mind-boggling news was shared with her, it was the source of a few stressful predicaments. Her husband-to-be pulled away from her emotionally, despite her promises that she was still a virgin.