I've Gone Country A blog about a city girl learning a whole new world

I went to a baby shower this weekend for our daughter Holly.  She is due in February.    Her body shape is showing that the time is drawing closer.  Hard to believe…. seems like she just shared the ultra sound picture with us the other day.   Amazing how early they can tell if it will be a girl or a boy.  You couldn’t really even tell she was expecting.  Now she is experiencing all the normal pregnancy issues, tiredness and trouble getting comfortable.

Everyone is different and every expectant mother will experience some things the same and some things differently.  But most mothers can recall many things that they went through….even many years after child birth.  I found it to be the most wonderful miracle I have ever been able to be a part of.  Amazing how you can fall in love with that little person…before you even lay eyes on them.  Before you have a personality to put with them.

With the Christmas season, I couldn’t help but think about Mary, the mother of Jesus.  I suppose too…. just coming back from a mission trip… made me think about possibly similar conditions in which she might have lived.  No running water, no electricity… she would have experienced those things for sure.  Many people even today all across the world still experience those conditions.

We gathered together Saturday with great excitement over our new little fellow that will be joining us soon.  There were gifts of cute clothes, towels and blankets just waiting for his arrival.  We had blue punch, cupcakes with blue icing, and lots of finger foods as family shared in the celebration.

I wonder if Mary had a baby shower?  Did her Mom, Aunts, cousins and nieces gather together for a celebration of Jesus’ arrival?

Did she have someone make her some cute little boy clothes…or a handmade baby blanket?   We don’t know for sure…scriptures do not say…and where scripture is silent we need not add words.  It does make one think though.  There are some things that scripture does tell us.  When Mary was first told that she would carry Jesus…she was told about her relative Elizabeth.  Elizabeth had not been able to have any children.  The angel informed Mary that Elizabeth was expecting.  Mary went to see Elizabeth and found that she was six months along with John (the Baptist) just as the angel had said.  Scripture tells that when Elizabeth was greeted by Mary…..John the Baptist gave a leap for joy inside her womb!   How exciting!!!

The circumstances of an angel coming to a virgin girl and declaring her to be the chosen one to carry the Christ Child was probably not celebrated outwardly from the village people.  Maybe there were many days when Mary felt excluded or slighted by her friends and possibly even family members.  Not to mention Joseph.  Scripture tells us that Joseph wasn’t too sure about all of this news either.  Then it goes on to tell us that an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream.  The angel explained the details and told him that it was alright to take Mary as his wife, then he understood.  Still….there were probably whispers and smirks that both had to endure.

Holly is entering the last stages of her pregnancy…they are already preparing to stay home and have a quiet Christmas.  No traveling…the doctor would rather her not.  Now…I think about Mary…she had to travel by animal or foot no less…right at the time of her due date.  WOW.  I cannot imagine how she must have felt.

One of the things I vividly remember about my pregnancy was how swollen my feet would get.  I was a cosmetologist and stood up all day on concrete floors, I continued to work up to a week after my due date.  At the end of the day I would go home and elevate my feet on pillows, trying to get the swelling to subside.  It wasn’t terrible…it just wasn’t comfortable.  The very thought of having to walk miles and miles or ride on an animals back for hours upon hours is just mind boggling to me.  Mary must have been a very strong woman….physically.  She must have also been very strong emotionally.  She had left her home…and her family.  That meant that she would have this baby….her first child on top of that….without the moral support of her family being by her side.  Yes, she had Joseph…..and I can only imagine that he must have been really nervous.  No cell phones…to call a doctor…or her Mom for advice or just to hear some words of comfort from someone with experience.  She must have been a very strong woman Spiritually too.  She had trusted the Lord thus far, surely she felt the presence of the Lord with her at that very difficult time.

An Angel appeared to some shepherds tending some sheep…..we know that they believed what they were told…because they hurried to the stable.  They found baby Jesus lying in the manger.

However, we really don’t know who was there to help Mary or Joseph with the delivery…the very moment he drew his first breath.  Possibly it was just the two of them….experiencing this miracle that they were told would come to pass.  They knew even without the technology of an ultrasound ….that they would be having a son.

I remember the moment I had my son…instantly the pain was gone….and the sound of his cry was the most wonderful sound I had ever heard.  I couldn’t wait to see the face of this one that I had been carrying inside.  Like most mothers, I thought my baby was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen, from head to toe.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Mary immediately smiled and anxiously awaited a peek at Jesus as soon as she heard his cry too.  It must have been a very special moment for her and Joseph as they thought about all that had transpired over the past few months.  And all that was still to come.

Most mothers think their babies are perfect….the difference with Him was that  He truly was perfect…..He was God’s One and only Son.

Have you ever noticed when mothers all gather together to talk, they often share special memories about their children.

Perhaps that is why this Scripture verse is one of my very favorites……………Luke 2:19 …But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

In a lot of ways she was a normal mother…but in other ways she was not.  She was chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus  Obviously a very special person to have been entrusted with God’s only Son.  Mary and Joseph were blessed…. for they were chosen to be the earthly parents of Jesus Christ.  What a huge responsibility.

God gave the world the most perfect gift ever given.  Given not only to Mary and Joseph…but to all of mankind.

But….as with any gift given to us… we first have to accept it.