Joseph tried to escape today. Crocheted Joseph who has been on a bit of a journey (again) around New Addington and beyond. He jumped out of my handbag and disappeared for a while. It wasn't until I was heading out to do a delivery of mystery things I realised that Mary and the donkey were Josephless.
Before I did my delivery I thought I'd check at home and, as I often do when I pop in, I didn't drive onto my driveway so that I didn't have the faff of reversing out or in.
And it's a good job I didn't, because there was Joseph, face firmly planted in the driveway concrete, ready to be run over if I did.
The big question of the day is how he ended up there? I'm normally so careful and check that nothing escapes. It seems appropriate, though, that the day in my advent readings, that Joseph is troubled about the whole pregnancy situation, that crochet Joseph escapes.
You would wouldn't you? Your fiance turns up and tells you that she's pregnant and God did it, and you haven't been ever that close to one another for you to be the father.... if you were in the handbag finding this out, you'd jump out - at least that would be your first instinct - this is a sticky situation to be in. It doesn't look good. Even if Joseph can accept it what will the family and the community think?
In many a sticky situation, our first instinct is to run, to quit, to hide, to give up, to escape. I've felt it when things have been hard. It would be easier wouldn't it not to face up to difficult decisions and or to not try and work out how to deal with the situation you are in?
But, in many a sticky situation, to run is not the answer. It might be a quick fix, it might get you out of the place, but it doesn't help those still stuck there, and in the long run, it might take you to a place where you know you are not meant to be.
If Joseph had run, it wouldn't have helped Mary. In fact, she'd have had to face the consequences alone and they were not good (stoning was one option) and Joseph loved her too much.
So Joseph doesn't run, he thinks about it, and somehow he manages to sleep, and in his sleep he finds out that what Mary says is true, and because of that he realises he has to stay put and work it through.
When we're in flight mode, a pause can make all of the difference.
A pause to breathe
A pause to think about what the truth is about the situation you're in
A pause to rest your mind
A pause to find clarity of thought
A pause to talk it through.
A pause to pray.
For Joseph, that pause meant that he could be in the place with the people he was meant to be. For us, that pause might mean learning to thrive despite the sticky situation we find ourselves in because the promises of the future look a bit brighter, or it might mean knowing that it's the right decision to walk away, with a clarity you might not get with an 'I'm going to run' confuddled mind....(note walk away, not run, walk sensibly knowing you've made the right call).....
So in that moment, before you jump out of the handbag and end up faceplanted on my driveway, pause, count to 10, sleep on it..... and when you've done that, the decision that you make will be far better conceived and you might just end up in a better place where you are (or somewhere else, maybe).
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