If we cannot relate to Joseph and appreciate his situation, then our lives are simple, easy lives indeed. Now, by relating to Joseph or understanding what he endured, I don't mean to suggest that we all either have been engaged or married to someone impregnated by the Holy Spirit. Even in our frantic search for ways to explain how such a thing might have happened, we probably didn't think of blaming the Holy Spirit!

We relate to Joseph and appreciate his struggle in a different way, a much more practical way, a day to day sort of way. All of us have had decisions before us about which we have thought and prayed and sought advice. It may have been marriage; it may have been divorce. It may have been choosing a career; it may have been retirement. It may have been surgery; it may have been …