I laughed so hard, my face hurt not to mention my large belly cradling our first child. It was a very warm December evening in a crowded, modest home. My husband’s family – mother, sisters, aunts and cousins – showered me with not only many wonderful presents for our baby but also with their love.
We were expecting our first child in mid-November. Now mid December, I was getting a little anxious. When would it happen, how would it happen?
Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem and were greeted by family in very modest surroundings. In fact, there was no room for them in the main house, and they set up camp in a stable. I wonder if the lady cousins helped with the birth.
Luke 2 does not give many details about the birth of Jesus. An angel spoke to a group of shepherds outside of town. Then the birth was celebrated by a host of angels singing
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Our first-born son finally arrived on December 23rd. Unlike Mary’s baby born in a primitive stable, our blessed event was in a modern hospital. No angelic hosts announced his birth to shepherds. But a nurse walked down the hall singing “Joy to the World” on Christmas Day. (Back then you stayed in the hospital several days.)
My loneliness for familiar celebrations can’t even compare with Mary’s ache for her family back in Nazareth.
My joy of our first-born son cannot compare with the fulfillment of the promise of the angel.
As the angel told Joseph – Matthew 1:20 -21 –
“ …an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”
Their baby was the promised Messiah – prophesied for many years. They didn’t fully understand the conception, the birth ,nor the life to come. But they trusted God.
Jesus, the mystery of the trinity –the God of creation, the sustainer of the universe came to earth as a baby.
(John 1:1-4) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Jesus left the glory of heaven to become a vulnerable, helpless baby. He grew to be a man knowing he came to die for the sins of the world.
A baby changes everything!
Johnny at six months
Yes, our lives changed with the birth of our first-born son. First time parents experience joy, fear, helplessness and awe. We realize our own mortality and our dependance on God to take care of this little miracle.
What a joy to watch our first-born son grow and become a father and now a grandfather.
That same care and concern for his baby girl and then six years later for his baby boy revealed the true heart of our son become father. Although sometimes rough on the outside with a demeanor of a pit bull, our first-born son has a gentle way with babies and children. They just love him. Evidently, they see the strong inner, gentle person he has become.
Happy birthday Johnny. I’m proud of the father and grandfather you have become.
I’m thankful to my heavenly father for the gift of his son.
John 3:16-17 (KJV)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
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