What happened in Bethlehem the day after Jesus was born? We are not told. But we can certainly imagine. We know the shepherds went back praising God.

The Magi had not yet come.

Mary, just a teenager, was trying to recover from giving birth to her newborn son, Jesus. She had no female relative to help her. Only Joseph. I am quite sure he was tender and kind. No doubt her mother gave her some instructions before they left Nazareth and some baby clothes. Surely her mother would not send her out unprepared.

But still, this was all a bit overwhelming. How to get the baby to nurse. How to keep the baby quiet. How do I wrap the baby? What do we do about the umbilical cord? The afterbirth? Was Mary anxious? I would have been. I would want to know what my future looked like.

But we are told Mary “pondered all these things in her heart”. She had yielded herself to God’s plan when the angel, Gabriel, told her she was going to have a baby. She did not take that yieldedness back. Each and every day, perhaps minute by minute, she had to yield to God’s plan. And would for the rest of her life. Even as she watched him brutally beaten then crucified outside of Jerusalem. She yielded to God’s plan.

Perhaps the Innkeeper’s wife heard that a baby had been born and took pity on the young mother and came to her aid. I’d like to think so.

This was a real birth. With real pain. Not easy for a young girl. Not at all. But God gave her the grace to do what was needed. As He does for all of us.

When He calls us to a task, He equips us.