Imagine being chosen to be the one who gives birth to Jesus! Imagine that the baby you rock to sleep, whose face you kiss, whose diapers you change, whose tears you wipe, is THE Son of God.

Oh the thoughts and questions I would have,  from the minute the angel gave me the news. “Why me? I’m not special.  In fact, Gail is more worthy to be chosen. Why not her?”

Another thought might be “I can’t wait to tell Lola and Kim and Chelle…wait should I keep this to myself? What will people say? Will they believe me? Will they think I’m crazy?”  Yet another thought might be “Ok, so there are plenty of guides and manuals on being a first-time mom, but where’s the cheat sheet on being mommy to Jesus?”

More questions include “what does life look like for us, after I give birth to the Messiah? How do I refer to Him – ‘Lord baby Jesus’, ‘God baby’ or ‘Christ’?  And what does He call me and Joseph? How do we discipline Him?  Can you really put God in time out??”

I wonder if Mary tried her best to be super perfect while she carried Jesus in her womb. Did she eat all the healthy foods and give up the junk, because, after all, this was no ordinary baby and her body was His temple, not just spiritually speaking, but physically as well.

Looking at Jesus’ birth from this perspective is not something I’ve done often. But the thoughts kept coming today. And they led to this thought – what an absolute blessing to be chosen to give birth to Jesus! To be hand-picked, out of all the women in the world. Then another thought came. God has chosen ME to give birth to Jesus, and yes He has chosen YOU too! Okay, so my story before Jesus doesn’t look like Mary’s did, and yours probably doesn’t either. So what? He still chooses you and me to give birth to Him. Not physically, of course. But figuratively, in the most precious of ways.

God has chosen you and me to share the message of Jesus with the world. Yes, that includes that backbiting coworker, that angry neighbor, the lying friend, the atheist who thinks you’re crazy.  God has chosen us and yet He gives us the choice to say ‘Yes’, I’ll do it’ or ‘No, I’ll pass.’

Imagine being chosen to give birth to Jesus…in the life of someone who desperately needs Him but doesn’t even know it. Male or female, young or old, black or white, rich or poor (and everything in between):  You have been chosen. How do you choose?