Read: Luke 2:1-7
[Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger. (v. 7)
Go through your treasure trunk, find your baby pictures, and think about this: you began your journey through time as a microscopic kernel of humanity, invisible to the naked eye, hidden away deep beneath your mother’s heart. Even at that earliest microscopic moment, your sex had been determined and the color of your eyes. At 18 days your heart began to beat—thump, thump, thump—a rhythmic pattern that continues nonstop until the day you die. At 10 weeks all your organs were present. At 13 weeks you had fingerprints different from those of every other person on this planet. There is only one you.
I wonder how Mary felt as she looked down at her newborn child, the way mothers do, studying every hair on his little head, every crease on his scrunched-up face. The sound of his breathing. The smell of his milky breath. And this was no ordinary child! The Messiah, the child of whom the prophets spoke, had been born at last, and there he was, snuggled in her arms. The Gospel says Mary “wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger” (v. 6). I wonder which of the two miracles most occupied the virgin Mary’s mind—that she had given birth, or who she had given birth to? God—the creator of the cosmos—had become flesh, and there in Mary’s arms was the proof of it. —Lou Lotz
Today’s Activity: Look at your baby pictures and reflect with wonder on the miracle of Jesus’ birth.
About the Author
Rev. Lou Lotz is a recently retired Reformed Church pastor. Lou and his wife Mary Jean live in Hudsonville, Michigan.
