What if when you held your newborn baby the Lord showed you a highlight reel of who they would be? 

What if a single, unwed mother chose life and changed the trajectory of this world? 

What if someone told you: He will give sight to the blind, and heal the lame? 

What if your baby’s voice healed deaf ears? 

I imagine the first time I held my firstborn. He delivered me from so many things, but he didn’t come to redeem me. 

I cannot imagine holding the ransom of the world; the King of kings. 

But, I like to….

I know it was hot, and ten times as hot being 9 months pregnant. It’s awkward. Joseph has never even seen you in the way he’s about to. It’s uncomfortable riding a donkey, but the alternative is much worse. Swollen feet. 

Sleep is far from ideal. Aside from the constant bathroom breaks, a bed of straw is as good as it gets. Did she have to go outside for the bathroom? Did Joseph help her? 

A moment mixed with uncertainty and fear. Fear of the unknown, and the unimaginable pain she would endure. Fear of being hunted during the most vulnerable moment of her life. 

A child. 

She was a child by the standards of the world I live.  In today’s world, girls that are 15-16 aren’t seen riding donkeys, giving birth, or more…. Carrying the Great I Am; Heaven’s perfect Lamb. 

What an unimaginable honor and yet I know the burden of such responsibility felt so heavy. I know the looks of shame as an unwed mother. I know the curious questions of wanting to know: “Who’s the Father”? I know the feeling of questioning the perfect plans of the Father. 

But, I also know the feeling of holding the closest thing to Heaven. The greatest gift and example of God’s love. The sleeping child that nestles to your chest, and looks to you in utter reliance. Reliance for love, touch, care, food, shelter, clothing, counsel, trust, and overall survival. 

The parallel between how we shepherd our children to how God shepherds us. How He leaves the ninety-nine. His love, in the form of a baby, is the most pure of all loves.  It’s an unexplainable love for someone that couldn’t rid you of your love for them if they tried. It’s a love that never escapes you. You watch your heart beat outside of your chest. 

I imagine the intense love of God for us. I imagine Him sitting with a pot and clay; shaping each baby from scratch. I see Him hold them in His hands and kiss their cheeks. I see Him whisper all the things they will achieve and do for His glory. I imagine He holds little hands and prays for their trials and tribulations. 

I believe He created Jesus the same way. He sat at a potter’s table and added water as he pedaled the potter’s wheel. Shaping and molding the little hands and feet that He knew would be pierced one day. I imagine He held Him close and kissed His tiny temples. 

And I know she did….. I know every time she kissed her little baby she knew she kissed the face of God. I think Mary knew all along that her baby boy would walk on water; save our sons and daughters. She knew her baby boy was Heaven’s perfect lamb. She always knew the sleeping child she held was The Great I Am. 

Mary did know.