Your breath crystallizing in the dark cold night

As the starry expanse welcomes you to Bethlehem

You’ve come full term with your destiny

And divinest joys well from the depths of your blessed soul

Touched by God to be the vessel for his Son

To be the mother of Truth as he embraces his creation as the created

Taking on the form of mankind, and through your humble willingness

He will be ushered into a world so desperately in need of him

–

There is no room for the Son of God, but no matter

His humble beginnings only magnify his timeless nature

And as you lay this helpless infant, crying and coping with this new state

Into a bed of straw, swaddled and wrapped

You are washed over with waves of maternal compassion

With Infinite love, and with endless care

An indescribable fire of protection and warmth

Ignites in your heart, as you would give everything for him

As you would do anything to protect him, to save him, to keep him well

–

You know his divinity, but as much as he is God,

He is your baby. He is your son. You are his mother.

He will need you to feed him.

He will need you to clothe him.

He will need you to keep him warm.

He will live, and grow, and learn

At the open hands of your provision

With the gentle hands of your instruction

By the tender hands of your healing grace

–

He will become a young adult and begin to understand the world

He will recognize that he and his Father are one

He will interact with creation and study and meditate and know

The depths of his purpose and the frailty of his human nature

He will see his creation in the utter depths of need

He will see the sick, the poor, the broken

He will see the fatherless and the weak

He will see the wicked and powerful

He will see the war of good and evil in all of its physical manifestations

And his heart will ache and break and yearn to heal this broken world

–

All the while you will stand by, as your humble prayers

Daily appeal the very gates of heaven

You will go to Jerusalem to offer two turtle doves

You will seek the face of your son’s divine Father

Your love will grow deeper, and you will see

With wonder and amazement this young man

Confound the wise with his simple wisdom

–

Your heart will burst with pride as the man

Teaches and mentors and leads

You will watch him stretch out his hands across the multitudes

And heal the broken, and give life to all who ask for it

–

One day, dear one, you shall see his hands stretched wide

And even as he healed the broken with those hands

His hands will be broken to heal the world

You will watch him raised and lifted up

Above a world that knows not what they do

The limbs you kissed and healed in his childhood

Will be bruised and torn and bloodied

The forehead you caressed each night

before he would fall asleep in your arms

Will be pierced by a thorny crown

He will be hurt, he will be damned, he will be humiliated

And you will watch it all through blurry tears that do not understand

–

And you will wonder how the sovereign God would allow this

Why he would willingly suffer such outrageous shame and pain

You will see him turn his back on his very self.

“My God, My God”

You will hear him cry in betrayed tones that do not understand

“Why have you forsaken me?”

And your heart will echo the cry of your son.

–

But oh, dear one, do not be afraid.

Do not let your tears be forever long.

Even as his final breath vacates his body,

And death takes the life of God,

You must remember who holds the key

To the depths of Hell and the Heights of Heaven

Life and Death are in his palm

His Sovereign Omnipotence

Dictates the paths of the Universe

And the very foundations of reality

He breathed existence into being

Threw the stars into the corners of time

With precision he engineered the unseen things

That make you who you are

He holds you together

He knew this pain you would feel

He knew you would need to feel it

Because before you ever loved your little baby

He loved and loves you more than you could ever know.

–

~j.d.schofield