"...they
returned home to Nazareth in Galilee"
January can be one of the most exciting months of the year because of
the feeling of a new start that comes with a new year. But for most,
January is the month of deprivation. This is the month that we resolve
to do more with less, lose a few pounds with less intake and more
output, be more diligent with exercise schedules, balance out work and
life better, etc. You know the list. At work it is the beginning of a
quarter or a fiscal year and even before the year is really started we
are already setting down and planning and adjusting to be sure that we
can hit the targets that we have set for ourselves. With a swirling
external economic climate, we may already be cutting back to make sure
that we have breathing room in the coming months and year. So, after all
the Christmas build up and holiday enthusiasm, January can feel like a
real let down and a hard time for many.
As I reflected on the January
doldrums I was reminded of how Joseph and Mary must have felt after
their first Christmas. What a heady experience to have given birth to a
new son, to have experienced the coming of the angel and the visitors
being drawn to the stable to see and worship the baby Jesus, and to
have gone to the Temple and had Simeon and Anna prophecy over their
child. And then, it was over. The angel was gone, the shepherds and
visitors had gone their own way and it was time to go home. Mary and
Joseph left the temple and the Bible says in Luke 2:39; "...they
returned home to Nazareth in Galilee". For Mary it was now to work to
raise a child and for Joseph it was back to his carpentry and making a
living for his family and now with one new mouth to feed. It was back
to the ordinary for both of them. It was a January and a new year, a
year to go back to work and do what was needed to make their own ends
meet.
Our life and work life of purpose is not to always be filled with
highs. It would be great if it was that way, but we all know that it
just doesn't work out that way. Our lives are filled with the ordinary
and the routine. And, even in the ordinary and the routine we are to
seek and work to live to the high standards we have been given as
followers of Jesus. As we each start this work year, let us take all of
the lessons given to us and do our best to apply them each and every
day, knowing that like Joseph and Mary, that returning back to Nazareth
was one ordinary step on what was to become a miraculous life journey.
They didn't know it then, as we don't know today, but what can come from
the ordinary, lived and pursued with righteousness, can be nothing
short of extraordinary.
Reference: Luke 2:39 (New Living Testament)
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