We idealize what having a baby will be like. A couple starts down that road. Sometimes birth is textbook easy. Sometimes parenting begins as a prolonged, expensive, frustrating bout with infertility. Sometimes tears flow over a miscarriage or stillbirth. Eventually, miraculously a child is born and joins our family.
We relate to the Christmas story of a young couple, Mary and Joseph, traveling while pregnant. Conditions were difficult as the couple broke cultural norms. The trip was risky and lodging was hard to find. Jesus, their firstborn son was born in Bethlehem, far from home. They learned to trust God and one another even as shepherds, angels, and magi arrived to rejoice over their son's birth.
Parenting stretched their faith, as it does ours. As parents, we act out of love and with courage when called upon. Jesus was delivered in a stable in a strange city. (Lk 2:7) Shortly thereafter the new family fled to Egypt to escape Herod's threat to kill their son, seen as a threat to the throne. (Matt. 2:13). During his teen years, the couple panicked when Jesus went missing after celebrating Passover in Jerusalem. (Lk 2:40-42) Ultimately, Mary suffered grievously as she watched her son die as a criminal on a Roman cross.
We mature and change through learning to love a new life. As demands are made upon us, we learn to sacrifice and serve, to persevere and provide. We serve as safety nets when life circumstances endanger our beloved children.
Why? When we create new life and watch over a child, we experience blessing. Our days as parents are filled with deep joy and rich memories which dispel the fear. Faith in the future with God wins out.
