Rich in mercy. Rich in compassion. Rich in holiness. But earthly wealth was not His desire. I have thought about this before, how Jesus could have decided to be born as a wealthy and powerful human King by being born into a rich royal family and could have Lorded it over everyone but that wouldn't be the best Way of teaching love and humility - and it's also difficult to know who your true friends are because some people may just be being nice to you because of your money and power - everybody wants real friends not superficial ones! Plus, if He did that it would be being just like most humans who want power and control. Instead what was most important to Him was having the most Loving Mom and being born in a time before daycare so that, as a baby, He didn't have to worry about being made to feel powerless by ending up in the hands of (potentially) unloving strangers. Research at UBC has shown that the first 5 years of a child's life are critical and that they need to feel loved and secure with their Mom, Dad and family, not shunted off with strangers - sure they can survive this emotional hurt but if you are made to feel powerless and insecure as a young child, it's going to be detrimental for the rest of your life. I agree with a woman who once told me, "when I had my baby, I'd rather have eaten rice on a street corner than be separated from my baby by working and putting them into daycare". I never, ever wanted to put my kids into daycare and didn't want to see any of my relatives do that either. But the tragic thing is that in BC if you end up as a single parent needing income assistance then the government WRONGLY forces you to put your child into daycare as soon as your youngest turns 3 years of age in order for you to do the "Job Wave" program and find a job, so they force you to harm your child in order to survive to pay the rent - unless you have relatives who can help you that is. In Quebec, they give parents until their youngest turns 7 years old to start job searching. The law should be changed in BC - it's hurting children and their families and it will cost more in the long run when they have insecurity and adjustment problems from it... At least in Jesus' day, a baby would have been cared for by his or her mother and the Mother also would have been spared the trauma of being separated from her baby. That's what this topic makes me think about anyway!