I began the next section tonight. I read it through to get the gist of it, and then began again. I got caught up in the unworthiness of the situation: God taking up human life in its simplest form, no magnificence, not even human luxury. How He must love us!

I took Titus 3:4—“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared…”—to my Father. He reaffirmed what He had taught me earlier, that He came to show us His love, not His power and majesty.

Then, I let Him tell me His story through Luke 2:1-19 and Matthew 1:18-24. The Annunciation had a fairy-tale-like quality about it. But now we have the human experience: Joseph’s dilemma, the rough journey to Bethlehem, Mary delivering her child in a dirty stable. All the angels seemed secondary tonight. This was real people in real-life situations. God’s will isn’t easy for us, sometimes. We have to lean on the strength He gives us to make it through the hard parts. His will was hard on Joseph and Mary, but He brought such goodness out of their trials.