Whispered promises

I vividly remember the day I found out I was pregnant with my first child. After waiting 5 minutes, which seemed an eternity, my heart rejoiced to see two pink lines on the pregnancy test. My prayers had been answered. God was gifting me a child.

My labor and delivery didn’t go as expected. Strapped to an operating table, my only view was a white sheet shielding my eyes from the miracle of birth. The doctor said, “one big tug and she’ll be here,” and I held my breath in anticipation of my child’s life-breathing cry.

Until I became a mother, I never knew how fiercely, passionately, and deeply I could love. As I held her tiny, pink, bundled body in my arms, I realized I would do anything for her. In fact, would give my life for her without question or doubt.

Mary held her newborn son in a dark and dirty stable in the town of Bethlehem. A place that was not intended for human comfort or aesthetics or smell, but I bet she hardly noticed as she basked in the joy of her newborn son. Kissing his little forehead, softly tracing his round cheeks with her finger, cradling his tiny body in her arms, and soaking up the feeling of his flesh against her chest, maybe she whispered sweet motherly promises to him.

“I will always love you.”

“I will always be here for you.”

“I will keep you safe.”

“I will give my life for you.”

She would love him, but he would love her with an unfailing love.

She would be there for him, but he would never leave nor forsake her.

She would do her best to keep him safe, but he would be her shield.

She chose to give him life, but he would be the one giving up his life for her.

Her Savior had come. Not in power or prestige or fame. But as her baby boy. Her firstborn child. A miracle of God.

Jesus, the Messiah, the long awaited, promised one.

“But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.” – Galatians 4:4-5