She Shared Him

Merry Christmas! I was blessed to get to celebrate one of the most important days for our faith with my family at a beautiful Midnight Mass. The music, the atmosphere and the priest who led us in prayer all made it the holy day that it was intended to be. We got to reflect on the amazing gift that we are given today, that if there was ever any doubt that our God loved us, the day that Jesus was born those doubts were put to rest. You can't think about what He did for us without realizing the depth of His love is deeper than we will ever know.
And now that we have received that love and that message, we are called to share it! It's in the way we are made. Just like when we get a great recipe, a new trick, a great sale, we want to share it with our friends and family. We can be selfish and keep it to ourselves, but we get so much more joy out of sharing it.
When I hear the story of the birth of Jesus I think about modern day births. For my husband and I, because we struggled with infertility for so long, when we finally brought our son home I didn't really want to share him with anyone. I didn't want a parade of people through my house or to pass him around for others to hold him. I just wanted to keep him all to myself and enjoy his tiny beauty and not miss a second of it. Now, my son was 1 month old when we brought him home and it was only a temporary situation at that time. Mary has just given birth to her son but also to GOD HIMSELF. I can't help but thinking that if I were her, I would have wanted to hide away so I could have that precious time with Him all to myself. But as the story tells, the angels sang, the shepherds came and she didn't hide away but instead she shared him with complete strangers. It was the most intimate moment of her life, and no one would have blamed her for being selfish with that time, but she shared Him. And in doing so she set an example for all of us. When we experience His love, forgiveness and grace a part of us would love to hold it tight and keep it for ourselves, but we have to share it with others. We have to invite others in to those intimate moments, and just like Mary did, we'll experience the joy that comes with bringing Jesus to someone else. After all, I owe my life to the people who have shared Jesus with me!
It is my deepest prayer that you all experienced the peace and joy of Christ present with us this Christmas season, and that you can take the love that you have received and share it with others in the coming year! Merry Christmas!