When she met her final destination lo and behold she was in labor. Big surprise there! Almost every other birth story I hear starts with somebody going for a "long bumpy ride" to induce labor. Is this where that idea comes from? Or is it just another clue to how a woman's body really works? Right in the Christmas story?
We all know how the story continues, we're very aware, especially today, Christmas Eve.
There's no room at the inn, the couple is sent to the barn and the baby is born, swaddled and placed in the manger.
I love this story not only for the joy and hope and love it brings at this happy (sometimes stressful) time of year, but also how normal birth is here, simply part of the Greatest Story Ever Told (that movie was on last weekend).
But really, Mary arrives in Bethlehem, tired and sore, oh so sore, from travel. Most likely already in labor. She finds the warmest, most comfortable place possible in some clean hay in the corner of a barn and with just herself and the assistance of her betrothed, Joseph, the strong and silent birth partner, she gives birth to a little boy.
Any mother can tell you how perfect that baby is too, even if he wasn't the son of God. A perfect little bundle to snuggle and love and stare at. Where moments before there was pain and a sense of defeat that most women feel near the end, where she felt as if she could go no further, suddenly there was pure joy and accomplishment. She did it! She and her body, did it.
And it was normal, and happy. Just as birth should be.
We don't really know, but that's how I like to think of it.
Merry Christmas!
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