It was recently a shock to some of our systems when we learned there is not really a donkey in the Christmas story as told per scripture. Every manger you see, every movie that includes the birth of Jesus, every story you read outside of the Bible all have Mary riding to Bethlehem on a donkey. It is hard to think that there might not have actually been one there. Or maybe there was. Either way, it’s an innocent thought. But sometimes the stories we hear that innocently fill in the blanks paint expectations in our hearts that make the truth hard to see. Was the inn keeper really mean? Was Mary really left to have Jesus all by herself? Did the world really usher in a King with such inhospitality? Maybe things didn’t go as Mary or Joseph expected, but did they really go as badly as we were always taught to believe? Deconstructing our expectations has the possibility of minimizing the potential confusion and shock to our systems. 

Photo by Alexander.Hüls