Matthew 1:18 Now this is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. I finally made it to the New Testament! YEAH!!!! I’ve been working my way through the prophets for what seems like forever (because I couldn’t remember if I’d ever read them all, and I wanted to read them all). And now, just in time for Christmas… we have Matthew! Whew! I think verses like this mean a lot more to me now that I have children of my own. It’s crazy enough being pregnant when you know how you got that way and who the father is and all. I can only imagine what it must be like being pregnant with God! I wonder if she got morning sickness or heartburn or he kicked her a lot… But then again, he was a baby complete with poopy diapers and runny noses and grubby little hands and cheeks. I can’t imagine a child who was perfect though… I mean, Jesus never sinned (not even as a baby or as a child). At least she didn’t have to worry about disciplining Jesus… I’ll bet it was quite a change when baby number 2 came along and he was quite different! Did the others get jealous that their older brother was God incarnate? (I can hear it now…. “Why can’t you just be a good boy like your brother, Jesus?!”) But I digress… If I had been Mary this would have been a very conflicting time. I would have been simultaneously terrified (of getting stoned to death for adultery – although if I were carrying God, I suppose it would be easier for me to believe that He’d protect me from something like that) and completely awed (I’m pregnant with GOD for goodness sake!). Can you imagine trying to explain this to your parents?! I wonder if she had to explain it to Joseph or if the angel did the trick. Mary really had to trust him because I think he found out about her being pregnant before the angel came to him. This is one of those moments that is legendary, and we often just skim over on our way to the “more important” aspects of the story – the angels, the shepherds, the wise men and crazy King Herod. But I like to think about how Mary was just a girl (probably around the age of the girls that I teach), and her life changed overnight. She had emotions just like me and fears and hopes and dreams, too. She was engaged to a good man and was probably really excited about getting married. But I can only imagine what things must have been like, what her thoughts must have been, to be that close to God, so intimately connected with Him, for those months that she was pregnant. I wonder if it was like that time when God was so close to me so long ago (if so, how did she function… that small taste was overwhelming). How amazing and incredible is that?!