Our culture glamorizes babies and expectant mothers (there are some BIG BIG exceptions to this, but i'm guessing for most readers of this blog, that's been your experience): there's gender reveal parties, baby showers, professional photo shoots for maternity and newborn pictures, and an endless stream of social media postings about pregnancy and babies (guilty as charged), mostly just showing the really beautiful parts of the whole experience.
It's such a blessing to have a baby. But the whole thing - pregnancy, labor and delivery, caring for a newborn - is also very physically taxing, undignified, and sometimes unbelievably hard. And that's in an era where we get to live in heated houses, sleep on Serta mattresses, get around in cars, use medicine to block pain during labor, and have all kinds of products to help keep baby comfortable and healthy. We see and hear about the nativity scene so much that you forget the reality of it, but I can't imagine sleeping in a barn in the winter under any circumstances, let alone while giving birth. I can't fathom walking and riding a donkey across the country when, towards the end of my pregnancies, it was too uncomfortable to take an hour's drive anywhere. I would have freaked out if I ended up unexpectedly giving birth at home, and I can't imagine going door to door and hoping for some hospitality as the contractions were coming. I felt a little squeamish that my newborn baby had to be subject to the germs in the hospital, and I can't imagine laying the baby down in straw that was recently rolled in by farm animals.
Add to all this the fact that Mary was a poor, unwed teenager. She had a marriage and a life lined up, and this pregnancy potentially put all of that in jeopardy. It sounded just as crazy then as it would now that she had an immaculate conception and was now carrying the Son of God. Mary was the first one to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, when she had every reason to be scared to death, and she embraced her role. It's amazing.
Then, there's the reality of what it's like to have a newborn. Babies take the best pictures and they are super cuddly and they look cute in tutus and they have a wonderful smell. Here are some other things that are true of newborn babies: They operate entirely on reflex because they can't understand what's going on around them. They are frequently spitting up and having explosive poops. Their only means of communication are grunting and crying. They can hardly see, can't hold up their own head, and are utterly dependent on their parents moment to moment for survival. It is INCREDIBLE that the king of the universe subjected himself to this state, that this was part of the rescue plan for our broken world.
That's what I'm thinking about this Advent season. How about you?
Well said, Erin. "...this was part of the rescue plan for our broken world." Astounding.
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