A Baby Changes Everything

Teenage girl

Much too young

Unprepared for what's to come

A baby changes everything.

The teenage girl in the verse from Faith Hill's song could live in Boston...or Toronto...or Brantford (see https://plus.google.com/107939813175034837761/about?gl=ca&hl=en).    A young woman, heavy with child, scorned by her family, lonely, scared, confused, nowhere to go.  A baby changes everything.

Turn the clock back over 2000 years.  A teenage girl in Bethlehem found herself pregnant.  Her fiance wondered about the baby's paternity, planning to send her away secretly.  Her future in-laws could have carried out a "mercy killing" for her adultery.  Her community shunned her.  A baby changes everything.

The young girl visited her much older, pre-menopausal age cousin, also pregnant with child.  Upon the occasion, her cousin felt her own baby move in her womb.  "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb," she declared, soothing words for a girl who was much too young.

About to give birth, she undertook a long journey on a donkey, her fiance by her side.  Near Bethlehem, she found herself out on the street, no room at the inn.  In a manger, under a brilliant star, she lay down on the hay, and there, among the oxen and lambs, she gave birth.  A baby changes everything.

wordpress.com