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 she would