Filled Valleys - Mary Letter Day 21

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'”

John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Luke 3:1-9 

Dear Auntie,

We are camped on the outskirts of the city, after a night of traveling slowly over rough terrain. As morning light was rising, we were settling in for a rest when the valley below us appeared. It was filled with people! Some were obviously merchants with their wares and others travelers like us. I have never seen so many people and I am afraid of being overwhelmed when we descend into the city. I am so big and unwieldy, no longer the nimble girl of days gone by. Joseph is very reassuring, telling me he has been to the city many times and he will let nothing bad happen to me. It small comfort as I look at the throngs.

I have had some cramps, but not regular as the wise women had described. They said the birth would happen when the pains built regularly and steadily. I am so afraid to have this baby on the road! The women explained that false pains can happen weeks before the birth, so I a dearly hoping we have weeks and not days. I am not sure I can handle it. I shared my fears with Joseph, worried that he would be horrified. Instead he told me he had attended many births, although those were all sheep! That made me laugh. He went on to say that if it happened, he would help me find women to ease me through it. He does have some relatives in the city. It did help to say my worries out loud, and even better to laugh at our circumstances for a change. Please keep up the prayers. I think of you so very often!

Much love,

Mary