Every year we observe Christmas and celebrate the advent of the Christ-child.

This Christmas is completely different for me. I know I’m not the only person to have welcomed their first-born son right before the Christmas season, but being Silas’s mother has given me a fresh look at what it truly meant for Jesus to take on the form of a lowly babe in a cattle stall. All the carols are new to me, all the prophecies about a child being born hold new dimensions. As I look at Silas I think about how humbling it must have been for the Son of God to be limited by an infant human body. He was helpless in his human form, needing to be fed, cared for, and watched over. What limits were put on the omnipotent God when He “was made in the likeness of men!”

Then, I contemplate Mary. I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like to give birth in a barn. How thankful I was/am for capable doctors and nurses who could attend to me  and Baby in a well-equipped hospital. I feel so privileged to be Silas’s mom. What thoughts must have been in Mary’s heart as she pondered the reality that her Son was the Messiah? How could God entrust His Son to a mere human woman? For me, the Christmas story of Jesus being born in a manger, surrounded by animals, and wrapped in rags, is an idyllic picture detached from reality. Now I think of it in concrete real-world terms, imagining the tiny fingers Jesus must have had, picturing Mary looking into the tiny face of God.

Vocalists John & Mary Giger presented a sacred Christmas concert at Crossroad this past Sunday entitled What a Difference a Child Makes. It blessed my heart and Stephen’s as we listened to scripture and song about the birth of Jesus while holding Silas and remembering his birth. Every child is special, and the birth of every child makes such a difference in the lives of their families, but what a difference the birth of the Christ-child made for the entire world as He was born to die for our sins. I cry at the thought of anything bad happening to my son. I’m not sure how Mary could have handled seeing Jesus die a terrible death on the cross. One song the Gigers sang encapsulates a lot of my meditations.

Mary Did You Know?

words by Mark Lowry

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy
Would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy
Would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your Baby Boy
Has come to make you new;
This Child that you delivered
Will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy
Will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy
Will calm the storm with His hand?
Did you know that your Baby Boy
Has walked where Angels trod?
When you kiss your Little Baby,
You kiss the Face of God!

The blind will see, the deaf will hear,
The dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak
The praises of the lamb!

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy
Is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy
Will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your Baby Boy
Is Heaven’s Perfect Lamb?
This sleeping Child you’re holding
Is the Great I Am!