The Joy That a Child Has Been Born into the World

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Recently a mama I know was discussing with her four-year-old daughter the visit that Mary made to Elizabeth when these two relatives were expecting Jesus and John the Baptist. When the mama asked her little girl why she thought Mary went to visit Elizabeth, the little girl replied, “Maybe so she could help make the meals.”

I’ve thought a lot about Mary’s visit with Elizabeth, but I never thought about Mary going to help Elizabeth. I appreciate the little girl for giving me this insight. It is a sweet thought and certainly one that is possible. Mary was young and newly expecting; Elizabeth was old and already six months along. I’m sure Elizabeth could have used some help. As Ray’s stepmother used to say, “How thoughty!”

I have mostly thought about the joy Mary and Elizabeth shared in both being expectant mothers. Pregnancy stories, birth stories, and nursing stories are some of our favorite things to talk about, right? Of course, the joy of being chosen by God to bear such special babies was a joy far beyond even the usual joy of these things so precious to us women. The joy for Elizabeth must have been almost unspeakable — to have suffered with infertility for many long years and then to be blessed with a baby — and this baby!

Elizabeth’s story reminds me of a birth story a mother told me this summer (even though I think of Elizabeth as quite a bit older). This mother, who had married in her forties, gave birth for the first and only time when she was a few weeks shy of 47.

I love to read about when John the Baptist was born.

Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and her relatives heard
that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her;
and they were rejoicing with her.
Luke 1:57-58

Don’t you know they were! Healthy births bring great joy, as Jesus said:

Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain,
because her hour has come;
but when she gives birth to the child,
she no longer remembers the anguish because of 
the joy that a child has been born into the world.
John 16:21

Today I invite you to rejoice with us as we announce the birth of our precious Maria Irene, born Saturday night to our sweet daughter Bethany and her husband Gregory.

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Psalm 127:3

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