I was in retail store management for 14 years. It was a career that I liked. From 1988 to 2002 I attempted to make the best of the 3 "P"s of retail: people, product, and placement. Getting these things in sync meant maximization of another important "P", profits. 
The retail industry at the time was notorious for allowing management to experience many parts of the country by moving us around constantly. We were never in one place for a long time. From 1988 - 1991 we were in 5 different stores in 4 different towns with one company and then another 3 stores/towns with the last retail environment in which I was employed. Add that to the 2 times we moved during college and that makes for a total of 9 places we lived in the first 8 years that we were married. It makes me tired just thinking about it. August was voted the month "most likely to move". At least until we got to our current residence...she put her foot down about moving in August then.
With each of these moves, there was excitement at new discoveries that awaited, new things to be learned, and new folks to encounter. I have to confess during those 8 years it seemed we were awakening in a new place with every new morning...
and for those who love alternate tracks...
One of the quickest record turnarounds in music history happened with the release of the album whose title track is our featured song. New Morning was put on shelves only 4 months after the release of Bob Dylan's Self Portrait album. The album New Morning was the 11th studio album released by the musical pioneer. It featured George Harrison (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Got My Mind Set On You" (George Harrison), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "The Light That Has Lighted the World" (George Harrison)) on guitar and Charlie Daniels on bass (who knew the fiddle man had those kinda skills?).
Dylan denies that New Morning was put out because of the performance of Self Portrait as the previous record was being widely panned by critics and fans. The singer/songwriter claims that most of New Morning was recorded even before Self Portrait was released. One of those previously recorded songs would become the only single released from New Morning, the #25 hit "If Not For You". This song would subsequently be recorded by Harrison and Dylan for Harrison's first post-Beatles album, the three-record set, All Things Must Pass.
The song "New Morning" while never released as a single from the record, continued the record's stylistic return to the more nasal folksy sound that had become Bob Dylan's trademark. This take on living life in the country is considered one of the "lighter" of Dylan's vast catalog of songs. It also expresses some of the feelings that occurred for us as we moved so much in the early years of our marriage. Most importantly, it could easily be seen as expressing the emotions of a young couple and their 2-year-old as they lived in a foreign country and contemplated the return to their homeland...
Israelites journeying out of Egypt back to Israel seems to be a recurring theme in the Bible. If you take into consideration the symbolism behind both countries, Egypt as an archetype representing the "worldly" regions, and Israel being the illustration of more "Godly" regions, one can easily surmise that Joseph and Mary as devout Jews were eager to get out of their situation in Egypt. They found themselves in Egypt as a result of being told by angels to go to escape Herod's death threats toward Jesus.
We now find Herod dead and his son Archelaus on the throne of Judea. The time had now come for Mary, Jesus, and Joseph to come back to Israel and find a home. Even under Archelaus' rule, the situation would remain dangerous for Joseph and his family as the prophecies of the Messiah being the King of the Jews would have still been prevalent. They were once again warned by God that Jerusalem was probably not the best place for them to take up residency. Joseph leads his family to the region of Galilee, specifically a town called Nazareth. Matthew then concludes this portion of Jesus' life with, "...And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene."
If you go look in the Old Testament, none of the prophets come out directly and say that Jesus would be from Nazareth. What the Old Testament prophets, specifically Isaiah, did say about Messiah was in they described a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. Isaiah 11:1-5 NASB/AMP/KJV/ESV
So what's the deal? We must remember that ancient Hebrew was a far different language than our modern English. The ancient Hebrew word for branch is netser. Its roots, if you'll pardon the tree analogy, N-TS-ER, share the same roots as the spelling of Nazareth in Matthew's time.
Remember, Matthew by trade was a tax collector. He would have been very interested in the regions folks lived in and would have made every effort to get cities and locations correct as he chronicled his version of The Gospel of Jesus. So while there is no quotable prophet that says "Messiah will come from Nazareth", Matthew takes what was said in Isaiah and includes it as a play on words to show that what the prophets said about Jesus was coming true in more ways than one.
Joseph settles his family in Nazareth. It is in northern Israel just to the southeast of the Sea of Galilee. The current city is just over 1.5 hours away from Jerusalem. Nazareth served as the place where the young Jesus would spend his formative years with Mary and Joseph. As the culture dictated, Jesus would have begun learning the carpentry skills of his earthly father Joseph while living in Nazareth. This obscure village was the perfect place for the family to be tucked away out of the eyesight of those who might seek to harm Jesus as He was growing up.
We honestly don't know specifics about Jesus' time in Nazareth. None of the Gospel narratives explain anything about His childhood until He was about 12. One would imagine, however, that as the threat against His life diminished that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were all very thankful for the opportunity to be living a peaceful life underneath a sky of blue, on their new mornings...
'Til Tuesday
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
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