Have you ever asked God "why"? For some reason, this year I have become especially curious about how Mary must have reacted when she found out that she'd be giving birth in a barn... with livestock! Did she ask God, "why"? I don't know what the cultural norm was back then?? Who knows? Maybe it was typical for a family to bed-down in a stable if the inns were all full? Maybe women gave birth in stables on a regular basis and it was not a shock to her? I just don't know. But I am approaching this post with the idea that it was not in Mary's plan in any way, shape or form to give birth in a barn. I have thought about Christ's birth over and over as we've celebrated Christmas each year and the significance that there is that God chose for His Son to be born in a lowly stable, but never has it dawned on me with such intensity as this year how Mary must've felt about it. She had just been delivered an amazing message that