As I said yesterday, it usually takes 5 days to start to feel like you know what you are doing as a first-time parent. But that feeling doesn’t last long. Babies are changing and growing so much during the first months in their life that it is almost impossible to develop any sort of routine or consistency.

So, just as you start to feel like you know what is going on you find yourself immediately thrust back into the despair and confusion of those first days of parenthood.

I’m sure that Mary and Joseph felt much the same way. Not just as first-time parents, but as two people trying to wrap their heads around the incredible task that God had entrusted to them. As is often the case with the mysteries and majesty of God, just as you start to grasp what God might be up to, you’re suddenly back to feelings of confusion and doubt.

We need to realize that this is ok. Faith is not the same as certainty and we need to allow ourselves the grace to admit that sometimes we aren’t certain about every little aspect of our faith. After all, that’s why it’s called faith. How could Mary and Joseph ever fully wrap their minds around the immense mission that their son was going to undertake. In the same way, how can we ever fully understand the bigness of God?  Rather than trying to figure everything out, what if we gave ourselves some grace to not have all the answers? What if we learned to love the mysterious aspects of God?

INVITATION:  Today, embrace and admit your questions and doubts. Take a blank sheet of paper and fill it with all your confusion. Draw pictures if you like, be artistic if that’s your thing, but above all, be honest with yourself and with God and learn to love the uncertainty that lives in us all.