Christmas books and birth

I got this book from the library to read to the kids. Along with a few others. As we were reading I remembered something I read a few years back about how Mary road that donkey to bethlehem while nine months pregnant then had her baby in a stable! Obviously the bible says that already, but since being pregnant and giving birth myself, I have a new appreciation for what that meant for Mary.

Imagine a pregnant woman showing up at hospital and being told, "sorry, we're out of rooms. Go have that baby back by the dumpster." Unheard of! And it was equally repugnant during those days. I'm sure it wasn't a silent night. I'm sure that barn was filled with birthing sounds, bodily fluids, animal smells, you get the picture. If you've given birth before, imagine riding a donkey at the end of pregnancy and possibly while in labor. Then giving birth in a barn!

All that makes me so much more appreciative of Jesus. He didn't just come to earth. He came to poor people, in poor circumstances, and lived a poor life. No one can say he can't relate to them. He lived life at rock bottom according to our standards but he never complained. He lived a life characterized by JOY! Then he died for our sins even though he didn't have any. Crazy.

So I do actually like the book pictured above, even though it is not exactly historically accurate;) That would probably be pretty traumatic for my 2 and 4 year olds. Someday I will share with (my) Mary what it was actually like. I hope a mom will let me bring Mary to a birth with me when she is much older. Then she can understand that (Jesus' mom) Mary wasn't sweetly slumbering in the midst of gentle animals after she had Jesus! She was probably praying those animals didn't break out of their stalls and stampede the place!