Nine months pregnant and trudging toward Bethlehem…sounds like everyone’s perfect birth plan!

Our veneration of Mary as the mother of the Savior would not have been shared by her culture. We forget that from the perspective of her society, Jesus was a child born out of wedlock.

Mary was a “Teen Mom,” like on the MTV show.

Putting yourself back in that perspective is difficult when for your entire life you have only known Mary as the mother of Jesus. Is there a time when you remember having anything other than warm feelings for Mary?

Imagine what she might have been called. Think about the gossip and the rumors.

Again, God chooses the unexpected. The King will be born to an unwed virgin and come into the world under a cloud of skepticism about who His father is.

Mary’s perspective, is so well summed up by Amy Grant’s Breath of Heaven. Grant sings:

Breath of Heaven,
Hold me together,
Be forever near me,
Breath of Heaven.

Breath of Heaven,
Lighten my darkness,
Pour over me Your holiness,
For You are holy.
Breath of Heaven.

Held together by the breath of heaven, Mary brings the savior to Bethlehem, and then to the world.

God, hold us together with the breath of heaven like you held Mary so many years ago. Bring light to our darkness this Christmas, and pour your holiness over us, our families, and everything we do. Because you alone are holy. Amen.