Having worked as a doula, I have seen birth flow from many women, their lives growing rich with the intense yet special experience of the process. Just a couple weeks ago, I received a late-night text from my friend Melissa saying her water had broke and she was headed to the hospital to have her 3rd baby. I lay there excited for her and remembered just a couple years ago when I was at her side as she labored to bring her 2nd baby into the world. It was in the quiet of the birthing center halls amidst strong contractions and the artistic swaying of her body in her husband’s arms…she said “I’m thinking about Mary”. Now, I have personally birthed 3 children and not once during my labor have I thought about any other women’s pain except my own, let alone the mother of Jesus…
That young and innocent girl’s simple yes was so much bigger than she thought in that moment. Mary’s childlike heart, mind and emotions couldn’t possibly have known what she was saying “Yes” to…the encounters and experiences she alone would face as Jesus’ birth mother.
She said Yes to the judgments from her family and the condemnation of her community as she carried a baby out of wedlock. She said Yes to it all. While we chose to give birth in a comfortable setting, aromatherapies and all, Mary settles for giving birth alone without help in an uncomfortable barn filled with other unpleasantries. And what was it like to loose the Son of God or to encourage his first public miracle? When she quietly pondered things in her heart, did she continually ask the question “why did I say Yes to this?” or was there an ever-present peace in the knowing that God had chosen her to be the eternal mother of Jesus, the eternal Son?
It breaks my heart whenever I see my children sad or hurt….I can’t imagine the tension in Mary’s heart as she watched her perfect son die on a cross, knowing that this was the plan all along….and she had been chosen to bring him into the world and unto this place. What joy filled her heart the moment she first held him and then even in the moment of his death-knowing she had done what the Lord required of her.
The tiny Yes in her heart was so great. My tiny Yes would be just as great….I just have to chose to say it.
