True Miracle

Of all our holidays, Christmas is the most consistently romanticized. Let’s take as one example the carol “Away in a Manger.” Even when I was a child, the image of the “little Lord Jesus no crying he makes” seemed unlikely. Jesus is too perfect, not quite as fully human as the rest of us. As a father who watched in awe Stephanie’s strength and power during the labor and delivery of Taylor and Eli, I understand birth is painful, messy and exhausting.

Parenthood has taught me that there is nothing romantic about bringing a new life into the world. Birth is only the beginning of the pain, messiness and exhaustion — and yes, joy and love — of raising children. But Christmas reminds us, in the words of June M. Schulte, that “peace is always born of travail.”

As we transition from Advent to Christmas, let me share Schulte’s full poem. She doesn’t give into the romance of Christmas. Quite the opposite, through the experience of Mary she invites us to see the true miracle of God becoming one with us in Jesus.

Out of the depth and quiet

of this chill, stark night,

a gnawing ache, a yearning

deepens, rising

like a threatening wave.

The young woman trembles.

Every inmost part of her is

shaken, all comfort broken.

Her hand gropes for something firm to grasp,

But all that was certain has become

obscure, all encompassing,

racked with pain.

Scarcely able to catch her breath,

she feels each wave larger, more

frightening than the last.

And as the great wave breaks over her,

she is broken,

momentarily forgetting what she accepted,

what love she bears,

yet choosing to believe when all seems lost.

Suddenly and completely

she, still bathed in sweat,

enfolds love in her arms,

knows joy as one victorious,

sees clearly as one who has been

stretched and changed,

that peace is always

born of travail.

(Travail by June M. Schulte; published in Women’s Uncommon Prayers)