Mary's Midwife

They never actually say in the bible story, but don't you suppose someone helped Mary deliver her baby?  I mean, she had Joseph, but traditionally, this was not the thing a husband generally did.  I would imagine if she were still at home, her mother, and possibly some aunties, or the busy-body neighbor ladies would be buzzing all around her!  They'd be boiling water, and prepping the swaddling clothes, and getting her something to bite on. Miss Prissy would be putting a knife under the bed "to cut the pain".  (It worked in Gone with the Wind!) 

Here's a dumb question.  Do you think it hurt?  I've had seven children.  Five of them were over 9 pounds.  I am more aware than most people of the exquisite pain that accompanies childbirth.  What I meant was, him being who he was, did she birth him in pain?  Hmmm.  I think yes.  After all, the pain of childbirth is in preparation of the pain that will be with a mother as her child spends his life separating himself from her.  The funny thing about this situation is that he came here to separate himself from her, to pull her (and the rest of us people) closer to him. 

So the question remains.  Who was Mary's Midwife?  Jesus delivered us all, but who delivered him?  Today, I will try to be Mary's Midwife to all those I see.  I will do my very best to "deliver" Jesus' love to those in most need of it.  I will have a smile on my face, and a hug prepared for those who just need to know that someone approves of them.  We don't have to go all the way to the cross to show his love to others.  Just  acknowledge that you can see me! I'm right here! I'm worth you spending half a second to smile at me and look me in the eye.  Lord, help me carry you from your place nestled within the warm confines of my own heart, out into the cold, loud, rowdy world I live in. 

Please deliver me...and allow me to deliver you.