(LifeSiteNews) — I hardly remember when I first became enamored with the idea of building a pioneer-style log cabin. It is a notion that feels like it has always been there. Perhaps too many visits to the Cracker Barrel or thumbing through endless pages of Country Living magazine in my youth are responsible for this. Whatever the case may be, the aim of building a log cabin of my own has now become my favorite preoccupation.
As the world continues its spiraled descent into the unknown, it is hard not to feel that building a log cabin is an appropriate distraction. Much of my own free time this winter will be spent preparing to break ground on the cabin in the Spring, finalizing design, cutting notches, and praying to St. Joseph that I don’t screw everything up.
These prayers have led me to ponder St. Joseph’s life much this Advent Season, particularly his plans to protect the Christ Child and Blessed Virgin, and what thoughts went through his mind while returning to his pregnant wife after he sought refuge at the inn, only to be given a cave. What might have seemed to St. Joseph in that moment an unfair and colossal shutdown is now considered one of our Faith’s most epic touchstones, one that continues to be celebrated, memorialized, and reflected upon by the saints and faithful throughout the centuries
I find some irony in St. Joseph’s role in this story, for he surely had the skills to build a home for the Holy Family. Nevertheless, events out of his control forced him to take refuge in a natural setting for world history’s most pivotal moment. Had St. Joseph planned everything out the way he had wished, the birth of the Christ Child would surely have occurred in a much more comfortable habitation, perhaps one crafted by his own hands to meet his family’s every need.
Even though that was not to be, we can be confident that St. Joseph accepted with absolute and perfect faith God’s plan, as crazy as it may have seemed at the time, when he was told there was no room at the inn for his wife to bear a baby he absolutely knew was entirely special.
Even with all of today’s medical advancements, giving birth is not for the faint of heart. Childbirth, at least for this dad, is both an amazing and terrifying event, and the birth of one’s first child carries with it a great deal of uncertainty and mystery.
In our last go-round at the hospital this past summer, my wife and I had our fifth child, a beautiful little girl named Juliette. I simply could not wait to get home, to a place where I felt everyone could adjust peacefully to our new family member and where we would have at least the semblance of control.
As hokey as it may sound, that experience only reinforced for me that my idea to bring a log cabin into the picture is the right one. Log cabins are traditionally places of warmth. They are visceral symbols of stability and security. Both families and individuals need more of such places—at least I know I do—and this seems especially true this year at Christmastide for those of us who seek to retreat indoors from the cold and the world.
At LifeSiteNews we wish you warmest and holiest of Christmas seasons as you spend time with your family and friends to celebrate the arrival of Christ our Savior. As we prepare for the New Year, please know that you, our readers and benefactors, are in our prayers and that we are both humbled and privileged to serve you in our work.
God bless & merry Christmas!