Christmas Ponderings

These are a few thoughts that God gave me over Christmas. It's pretty random, but I felt the need to share. Sorry for the long, non-picture post!

This is my first Christmas being a mother, and I’ve been thinking a lot about Mary. Back in August while I was pregnant, I read the passage in Luke about John leaping in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary entered pregnant with Jesus. It was so sweet to know exactly what a baby moving in my womb felt like.

Having Josiah has provided this incredible visual image of what Jesus might have looked like at Christmas more than 2,000 years ago. It’s a continual reminder of the humanity that our Holy God took on in order to fully empathize with us and save us. Babies are dependent on a caretaker. The God of the Universe made himself a helpless baby who needed his mother for food (even though He made her) and protection and to change his diaper and help him sleep. I’m reminded that the birth that we herald this time of year was not a pretty process, yet it’s how Christ entered the world (listen to Andrew Peterson's "Labor of Love").

We spent months preparing for Josiah, having showers, decorating a nursery, getting the perfect set of clothes and amount of diapers. But the King of Glory entered the world poor with no beautiful clothes and no pretty crib. I fret about Josiah’s health and growth and safety, but imagine Mary! She was caring for the Messiah! Eternity depends on the health of this baby. Of course, God’s sovereignty provided through more difficult circumstances, but still, it reminds me that even the seemingly trivial mommy-things I do could have an impact on eternity.

When Josiah was born, they placed him on top of me, and I thought, “It’s nice to finally meet you. So you’re the one we’ve been waiting for.” When Mary looked at Jesus, it was more like, “So you’re the one we’ve ALL been waiting for. Since the fall, since the exodus, since the exile…so you’re the one who has come to save us all. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

I look at Josiah and I would never want any harm to come to him. I love him more than I ever dreamed possible. I can’t imagine him dying or suffering, certainly not letting it happen willingly. Yet the Lord (and Mary and Joseph) had to look at their precious son every day and know his fate.

But more so, this reminds me of the deep love of God. Jesus was his son, and it was his will that would allow him to die. “For God so loved the world that He gave his only son that whoever should believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I have daydreams about going to a foreign country, with hostile people. And they ask to take my son away from me. The thought is too agonizing to dwell on for long. But God gave his son, his only son, to a people who would hate him, who would torture and kill him. Though it had to be the most painful thing in the world, he did it willingly and lovingly.

And he did it all for me, for love of wicked me, and every other sinner past, present and future. To redeem me from my lost state, to restore a relationship with me. How much I don’t deserve it!

Praise God.