I look at my nativity scene and I wonder, where are the women at the manger? I am certain they were there. Surely Mary was in labor when she and Joseph arrived at the inn; otherwise they would have searched farther for lodgings.
Does anyone think that the news of a young girl giving birth to her first babe, with only her husband to help, would not be shared among the women at the inn? Women rich and poor, young and old, childless or experienced in childbirth must have talked it over and pitied a young girl so alone.
Certainly they came to help with water, clean cloths, encouragement, and tender care. When after many hours they summoned Joseph to see his son, the women slipped back to their rooms to care for their own families. So it is for women in history – they were there, they acted, but what they did often goes unmentioned.
This Christmas take time to imagine the women by the manger, sisters in the joyous moment, gathered smiling around the holy babe.
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