During the Christmas season, I often think of Mary.  I place myself in Mary’s shoes and consider how scared and confused and undoubtedly honored she must have felt that God had chosen her to carry baby Jesus for nine months and then to be His mother while on this earth.  Just as Mary was chosen by God, Joseph was chosen to be Jesus’ earthly father.  I let this part of Christmas slip by until I listened to Joseph’s Lullaby.

Put yourself in Joseph’s place, as you close your eyes and listen to these words…

I believe the Glory of Heaven is lying in my arms tonight. 
Lord, I ask that He for just this moment simply be my child.

Joseph’s Lullaby  ~ Mercy Me

These have to be my two favorite lines throughout the whole song.  I can only imagine how Joseph must have felt knowing the Glory of Heaven was lying in his arms that night.  This song has challenged me to read through the Christmas Story from Joseph’s perspective.  When Joseph learned about Mary’s pregnancy, he did not want to publicly humiliate her so he decided he was going to break off their engagement.  How heartbreaking of a thought for him, but one which shines his true character through and through.  Mary was someone Joseph loved dearly.  They were planning to spend their life together and now this dream vanished before him—or so he thought until the angel appeared before him.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,
because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sin.”
Matthew 1:20-21

With confirmation from the angel, that Joseph was supposed to keep their engagement, Mary and Joseph traveled the long, nine-month road placed before them which led to that awe-filled moment where Joseph reached out into the Glory of Heaven.

I believe we can take a piece of Joseph’s journey for ourselves.  Just as Joseph held the Glory of Heaven in his arms, we hold the Glory of Heaven in our hearts with us everywhere we go.  Let us never take for granted this precious Gift we have been given.  Not for one moment should we ever rush what God is doing in our lives at this moment.  For what He is doing now is preparing us for our very own awe-filled moment with Him in Heaven one day. Until that face-to-face encounter takes place, let us just be His child.  Let us just be still and know that He is God and know that in what may seem like our momentary troubles God is achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs it all.

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

It is my sincere prayer that we reach for one thing this Christmas—the Glory of Heaven.