For Unto Us...

... a child is born, a Son is given.

We talked about Luke 2 & 3 in our small group on Sunday night where Mary was told she would conceive through the Holy Spirit and give birth to God's Son, Jesus.

We wondered what must have been going through Joseph's head after an angel appeared to him and told him that Mary's child was from God. And then the angel told Joseph to name the Savior of the world Jesus.

We considered how Mary must have felt during her pregnancy months, what she must have been thinking and worrying about.

As the moms in our group mentioned feelings of inadequacy and fear with how we raise our own children, we couldn't help but recognize the same feelings within Mary... with one huge difference. Mary knew. Mary knew. She knew, as she stroked the hair of her newborn, what Jesus was sent to earth to do. She knew one day that he would suffer, be beaten beyond recognition and eventually die for the sins of all mankind. Yet Mary didn't run from the mission for which she was chosen.

So, the baby was born to a virgin on a cold winter night in a stable surrounded by farm animals. Her first visitors after giving birth? Shepherds, the lowest of the low. Dirty and smelly from spending week after week in fields attending sheep. Do you get the symbolism? We, you and I, are the lowest of the low no matter what our social status may appear to be. We are the ones God sent His Son to shepherd, to look after, to save from certain death.

It seems simple, doesn't it? Sometimes I overlook the telling of the story because I've heard it told countless times in many different ways. It's the Christmas Story and it doesn't change. Yet, it changed me. And I look at it with new eyes today, through the eyes of Mary. May the story never get old for you. Luke 2

Merry CHRISTmas!