Flight Into Egypt

As I thought about drawing a Nativity this Christmas these scriptures came to mind:
Matthew 2:13-16
13 ... the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
16 ¶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

What it must have been like to flee into the night with a new baby to a foreign land. Where would they live? Would they be safe?

We once moved from one coast of the US to the other with a new born. We traveled by VW bus and slept in motels. We were going to a state we had never been to before without knowing where we would live. It was a little scary. But we weren't running for our lives. We knew our baby would be safe.

As Mary and Joseph fled, were they led by angels? Did the Holy Ghost whisper words of comfort and courage to their hearts as they traveled. Did their hearts break for those babes that would die at the hand of the evil King Herod? I know the answer to each of these questions must be yes.

How grateful I am to these brave parents who did as their Father in Heaven commanded. Without hesitation they fled into Egypt and kept the savior safe.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad.

It Was My Birthday!

Thursday was my birthday! Having a birthday in December can sometimes be a little disappointing, having to compete with Christmas. But mine is a whole 2 weeks before, so instead of competing, it kind of heralds in the season. A lot of my favorite Christmas decorations came to me as birthday gifts.

I'm not shy about my birthday. I want it remembered. This year I turned 58. 58! What a shock! As I was doing the math, more than once out of disbelief, my granddaughter asked if I was going to die soon. I reassured her that I am planning to be around for a long, long time.

I refuse to be old and have decided that 58 is the new 28. When I look in the mirror I never expect to see the wrinkled, tired, and a tad saggy face that stares back at me. In my head my face is young and thin, with only the happiest laugh lines around my eyes.

And no old lady gifts for me! No night gowns, no bottles of lotion, or silly sweaters (ok, sometimes I like a good, old lady, over-embellished sweater). This year my grandchildren gave me the Rex walking dinosaur from Toy Story (the only thing on my birthday list). He joins the rest of my collection of dinosaurs. They gave me a new snowman book to read to them and a picture with Santa. And as I'm writing this, I'm wearing the cutest slippers that Kelly knit and felted for me.

But the funnest present; the one that made me realize I am not an old lady, was the Red Wii. What a gift! What fun! What laughter! I completely forgot that I'm not supposed to be silly. I danced to the Just Dance 2 game (scoring 8,000- far more than anyone else). I hooped and hollered at Nate while trying to shoot ducks. I totally felt like the 28 year old I am in my head.

All in all it was the best birthday ever- Well, until next year anyway.