An excerpt from Mary’s Diary. Part of my pre-Christmas series. J
Marcheshvan 7th
November 28th
We have heard such startling news! Everyone of King David’s line
will have to trudge off to Bethlehem to be taxed.
That includes Yosef and me, since we are both descendants of
David; One of us is through Solomon, and the other by a more obscure son by the name of Nathan.
I wonder how that will work with my pregnancy getting so near its completion.
It feels like every city in the whole country will be getting mixed up like a big pot of mixed lentils or beans, with everyone traveling hither and yon to reach the city of their origins.
What an unsettling time for our baby to be born! But I know His
Heavenly Father is watching over us, and knows exactly what is going
on in His frail children’s’ lives
Marcheshvan 9th
November 30th
Something sad has happened. In an effort to understand it better I will try to see it from my beloved Mimi’s (grandma’s) viewpoint.
Sevta (grandmother) sang a happy little tune about God's love while she briskly wielded the hoe in her tiny garden patch behind the house.
It was a fresh spring morning, and my, did she ever enjoy working
among her thriving plants. It seems like every day there were new things
to marvel at such as a sweet new bud kissed by a dew drop on her rosebush or quietly watching a mother bird as she scurried about feeding her adorable,
but always frantically hungry young.
Sevta smiled as she stooped to scratch out more weeds from her row, how like her own clamouring children so many years ago.
Sevta looked up when a donkey brayed, and a feeling of dizziness
swirled around her. She leaned on the hoe waiting for the feeling to pass,
but it only got worse...
What is happening to me? Maybe if I can get to the house and rest awhile I will soon feel better.
Darkness overshadowed her. She could not see where she was going.
If I can only make it to my bed, I'll be okay. Take a drink of water... She reached out her hand groping for direction. She took one step, then another. The hoe clattered to the ground beneath her weakened hand. I must not fall, I must not. Mary'am will be stopping in in a few minutes like she always does on her way to market.
She is with Child. I must not frighten her.
Seven more steps and you'll be at the door.
You can do it, Rebecca, you can do it. You can see a little bit.
Keep going, just keep going.
"Oh, Adonai, help me," she cried as she fell against the door frame and
collapsed to the ground.
But no human heard her.
I’ll lay down my pen with a sigh, but soon must write more.
Sundown
This is the eventide of the same day. I’m still writing in a detached sort of manner. Don’t ask me why.
Mary’am rested her hand protectively on her rounded abdomen as she gazed apprehensively to the top of her father-in-law’s mud brick house. Yosef was up there somewhere, hard at work mending the roof before the latter rains descended.
She wanted to talk to him. She tested her weight on the first rung of the ladder, then stepped higher. And higher. Soon her brown eyes were peering over the top of the balustrade.
Yosef straightened when he saw her, and his own eyes widened. "Mary’am," he exclaimed, "be careful!"
"I am," she responded, trying to keep the tremor from her voice. "I wanted to ask you something."
He nodded, looking ready to leap to her assistance if she so much as blinked an eyelash.
"Since we are in such a hurry to get to Bethlehem, I was wondering if I should put off visiting Mimi (grandma) til another day."
"Do whatever you think is best, darling, but please get off that ladder!"
Mary’am hummed a happy tune as she scurried off to market with her basket slung over her arm.
She took the shortcut bypassing Sevta's house entirely since Mimi lived closer to her folks than to where she had been receiving council from her husband.
But her conscience wouldn’t leave her alone.
She will be so happy to see you!
But I go nearly every day. She'll understand if I miss just this once!
It’s urgent that we leave for Bethlehem as soon as possible.
But what if she needs you?
Needs me? Sevta? She's the most lively, energetic Mimi I have ever seen!
But what if, what if...
I'll stop in on the way back with some fresh fruit. Sevta is so thrifty I'm sure she doesn't plunge on any very often.
Why not go now? It's not much out of your way?
With a self-depreciating smile for impulsively changing her mind, Mary’am headed towards her grandmother’s.
What was that strange lump huddling next to Sevta's doorstep? Is it a dog? No, it's too colourful to be a dog. A beggar perhaps? I do wish the beggars would take pity on an elderly widowed woman and go elsewhere. But she is too merciful to shoo them away.
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