Labor of Christ in the Birth of Christ

It’s Christmas season. Nativity scenes have begun popping up in our homes, churches, and stores.

They’re usually the same—an angelic scene of a peaceful Mary holding her baby. That depiction is so common that it likely affects our own views of that first Christmas night.

How perfect and calm it seems . . . Together we sing, “Silent night, holy night / All is calm / All is bright”—but I’m not so sure I buy silent.

With a history of difficult labors turned C-sections quite literally under my belt, a silent birth seems like an enigma. After my labor experiences, the movie-perfect hospital scenes I grew up watching were replaced by pitiful screams and a bloody mess.

It’s been five years since my last labor, but I can still feel the sharp hits of pain in that hospital room. I can hear my pleading cries, feel my wet tears, and I can vividly hear my whispers to my husband: “I’m just ready to meet him . . .”

This post originally published at Gospel-Centered Discipleship. Follow this post here to keep reading.