Ruth Chesney

What better time for a new start? Christmas, with all its overindulgences, is over, and a whole new year stretches out before us, clean and unspoiled, full of potential and ripe with promise. This is going to be the year in which we lose some weight, be more organised, manage our money better, or spend more time with family. Then reality hits. The reality of saying ‘no’ to those tempting chocolates, getting out of bed to exercise on cold, wet mornings, discovering we have the same demands on our time that we always had. Why do so many new year’s resolutions fail? In most cases, they are noble and worthwhile goals, things that are perfectly legitimate and right. Maybe the goal was unrealistic. Someone whose only exercise consists of taking out the wheelie bin isn’t likely to suddenly be able to run ten miles every day. Maybe there was a lack of planning. Managing finances requires a budget, which doesn’t happen on its own. Maybe there was insufficient motivation, or we hit discouragemen...

I wonder what Mary thought. Not too many months before, the angel Gabriel had visited her to tell her that she, a virgin, was going to have a baby. And not just any baby – this child would be the long-awaited Messiah, the One who would save His people from their sins. She was truly blessed. An unknown girl from an insignificant village was actually going to be the one to carry the most precious child ever to be born. So can you imagine what was going through her mind as she and Joseph made the long trip to Bethlehem in the final stages of her pregnancy? I’m pretty sure that Mary knew Micah’s prophecy concerning the place where the Messiah would be born – a scan through her song in Luke 2 reveals that she was a girl who was certainly familiar with the Scriptures. But couldn’t they have been asked to make the trip a few months beforehand? Why now, when she was ready to deliver? Can’t you see them, most likely tired and worn out to the point of exhaustion, making their way to the inn, onl...