The First Cry

Tonight I was reading to my children.  I have been trying to find ways to teach my 3 year old the true meaning of Christmas, that its not all about Santa and in m search I found a book called "The First Christmas Night".  I love the way it tells the story of the birth of Christ.  One part always strikes me pretty hard when I read it, "And then, in the stable, a baby's first cry!  Peace on earth, good will - redemption is nigh"  I think of what that first cry means, what it means to us on the earth, what it means for salvation and what it will mean to my children.  That cry means that we can be saved, that we will have someone willing to die for us. But that childs cry also means that one day a perfect man will be scorned, will be treated less than human, will suffer and die.  He will die for me and for my children.  To me that first cry is a very powerful cry. 

The Christmas season has become very different for me since I became a mother.  I found out I was going to be a mom for the first time a week before Christmas.  As I sat in church hearing the story of Mary, and what she had to go through to deliver her baby I was thinking what I would be going through to deliver my baby.  My story is much easier and much less stressful.  I knew where I would deliver my child, I knew I would have a bed to lay him in.  I was near tears thinking what it would be like to be very pregnant and knowing I was carrying the salvation of man, knowing that he was the Son of God and no one would give me a place to lay my tired body. Mary is someone I really look up to and admire.  How many of us would be strong enough to travel all day on a donkey while very pregnant and then not be able to find a place to lay?  What must Joseph be going through knowing his wife was very tired, probably very sore and no one would give them a place to stop.