In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place whileQuirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

Luke 2:1-3 NIV

I know I’ve mentioned the busy-ness of the season in previous posts. Maybe I’m becoming a little one-note-ish on this blog, but the hectic pace of the season seems to be ramping up as each day passes. Today is no different.

And in the midst of thinking about that, I am also thinking about a long, inconvenient journey. From Nazareth to Bethlehem. Mary didn’t ask for this. She didn’t need to be traveling by donkey through the desert while pregnant. I wonder if she complained or got cranky, the way that I do.

It always looks so pretty in the pictures…but I wonder what that journey to Bethlehem was really like. I wonder about how dirty and dusty it was. How cold at night and how hot during the day. I wonder if I really have anything at all to complain about.

I wonder if Mary and Joseph understood how momentous their journey was, if the recognized it as a world-changing event, or if it was just one more thing that they had to do in a busy time.

And I wonder what important moments I’m missing out on as I rush from one thing to another. So let me end this night with a prayer: Lord, help me to be present, not to be future and not to be past. Help me to know life – your life – in each moment. Help me to enjoy the journey, busy as it may be, as much as the destination. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.