My little boy turned three this week.
Time has gone by so quickly.
I remember that a few weeks before he was born I spent the afternoon dipping chocolates with my Grandma. As we cooked she she shared with me her thoughts about my own father’s birth who was born just a few days before Christmas. She explained to me what a great blessing it is to give birth to a child at Christmas time. She said that for her it brought new meaning to Christmas and turned her heart towards Mary and Christ. It made giving birth mean so much more to her. I pondered a lot about my Grandmother’s words the last few weeks of my pregnancy and tried to imagine what Mary must have experienced as she waited to give birth to her baby boy. Mostly I was in awe that Mary went ANYWHERE on a donkey at nine months pregnant! She was a hero in my eyes just for that.
Then later as I sat nursing my new born son, wrapped in a swaddled blanket, staring into my Christmas tree my heart really began to turn to Mary. I felt such a kinship with her and my heart overflowed with gratitude at her sacrifice. I could only imagine how her heart rejoiced as she held her son, knowing who he was, and how it must have ached, knowing what he would face. It humbled me so much to think how, from the moment she chose to become the mother of the son of God, her life was never normal and it was never easy. She sacrificed so much for so many.
In the three years since my son’s birth I’ve continued to ponder on Mary and I’ve learned that each and every conception is a gift from God and is, in essence, no less miraculous than Mary’s immaculate conception. I’ve seen that God is as interested in the birth of the child born to a prostitute mother in Asia, the child of rich European parents, the child born to an HIV mother in Africa, and the birth of my child as He was the birth of the Christ child. It is a beautiful testament to the nature of God to realize that the “worth of souls is great in the sight of God” and that all of God’s children are just as precious to Him as the his Only Begotten. He even promises us that if we are worthy we will be made perfect and will inherit the same glory and power that Christ has received. In this sense each and every birth is the birth of the Christ child and each and every woman is a Mary, a chosen vessel of the Lord.
A few weeks ago I heard this song on the radio when I was driving home and it made me cry so hard I had to pull over. I hope you will take the time to watch this beautiful video. Listen carefully to the words. They are so powerful.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas
and don’t forget
one life
one woman, one baby
changed everything.
Can I just mention one thing about this video. The MOST powerful part of it for me is the last few seconds when you get a glimpse of Christ's ressurected hands. Usually when people depict the nail marks they are little scars in his hands. These ones are gaping holes. Which, considering the type of nails they used during cruxifiction, is MUCh more accurate to what would have been done to his hands. For some reason that is such a powerful image for me. To imagine that one day when I meet the savior the scars in his hands will be no insignificant thing.
You are right, one of my babies was born 5 days before Christmas, and I truly felt much more drawn to Mary and the Christ child at that time. And, that was my unplanned unassisted birth at home. It was beautiful! What a gift and treasure to reflect on at Christmastime!
What a great thought for today. I love the song. It is so true. A baby changes everything, and they are always a miracle.
I love this post- Thanks Heather, and a Merry Christmas to you and your family 🙂
I too was "great with child" during Christmas 5 years ago. My third child was born just 2 days after Christmas and I thought and pondered a lot that Christmas on how Mary must have felt, all of the feelings she was have kept and pondered in her heart. That was one of my most favorite Christmas'. The second favorite being the one where I found out on Christmas eve that I was expecting my fourth baby. Thank you for putting into words so eloquently what some of us think but don't have the words to say.
Beautiful. I'd never heard this song before.
The miracle of life really is just that — a miracle. I've been feeling a great sense of awe and gratitude as I've thought about Mary and Elizabeth and the parallel miracles that blessed their lives and blessed the world.
Lovely post (as usual). I'm not 'great with child' yet, still 12-14 weeks to go, but being pregnant with my first has changed my perception of not just Mary and the Christ child, but of many other things as well.
We went to the temple on Saturday, and it was interesting going for the first time in this pregnancy different parts stuck out in different ways-that's always true of the temple-but it seemed especially so this time.