“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” -Luke 2:19
My heart has never been as full as when I gave birth to each of my children. It sounds cliché but giving birth is truly a miracle. The exhaustion of each pregnancy and the pain of childbirth climax to what I consider the greatest emotional experiences of my life, and I treasure each one of those memories.
I guess that’s why during the Christmas season, I become this emotional mess who can’t help but cry when I witness a living nativity scene in a Christmas play or reread scripture about Christ’s birth. It’s all about that swaddled baby. Shepherds and Kings kneel at the foot of the manger and Angels worship the miracle of the Christ child. And I sit with tears welling up because I can relate to treasuring the blessing of birth and the three gifts God gave to me.
I cannot even fathom Mary’s emotions, and her pondering God’s choice to allow her to carry in her womb the miracle baby— the salvation to the world.
God chose the most inconvenient circumstances for Mary to have a baby. An unwed, teenage mother who has to live with the cultural shame of an unplanned pregnancy. This could have led to the end of young Mary’s future. Giving birth out of wedlock could have forced Mary into a life of begging and prostitution, as that was the risk in those cultural times. But God asked Mary and Joseph to have faith and trust in this unplanned event in their lives as His intentional promise to the world.It was a choice to see beyond their circumstances, and faith to understand God could bring hope and glory from having a baby.
I don’t know about you, but the birth of Christ, especially at this time of year, draws me to my knees in prayer.
We live in a world where babies are in the headlines of politically motivated news stories instead of in birth announcements. Where words like pregnancy, unplanned, and birth are overpowered by the word “choice.” Babies are too many times reflected in sentiments of being unwanted instead of desired or treasured.
While our society gets bolder in shouting their abortions and embracing a woman’s right to “choose” as a cultural norm, I can’t help but reflect on that intentional message at Bethlehem.
God was deliberate in the plan of the miraculous conception of Jesus from a virgin and all the circumstances surrounding His birth. That baby—held by such a young mother and a father who risked societal shame to live out this mighty plan of God— is the hope of our salvation.
Ponder that! Let it sink in. We are the intended purpose of God’s plan. A plan derived from Mary and Joseph’s unplanned.
There will never be an understanding of the hope and sacredness of life without the acknowledgment of the Savior. Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection define the value of all life. It gives every baby’s life worth—planned or unplanned. When we understand why Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart,” then we can truly comprehend the sanctity of life.
This is why the gospel message must be wrapped in the pro-life message. Without the divine plan, it’s impossible to understand faith in the unplanned.
So, once again, as I watch that living nativity in remembrance of that miraculous day in Bethlehem and become an emotional mess of a mother, I pray that more people will know the gift of salvation. The hope of life. And treasure God’s intentional plan for all the unplanned circumstances in our lives.
*This is an adapted reblog from 2015.
Carol Kenzy