A Parent's Pride

Coming home from Indiana last week I managed to get on an earlier flight. Unfortunately, that meant I was in a middle seat. Worse than that, it was a seat in between two ladies that outweighed me. Worse than THAT...these two ladies knew each other. Worse than THAT...it was obvious that these two ladies hadn't seen each other in ten years and had A LOT of catching up to do. And what better way to do it than by talking over the dude with the bald spot!


Since it was obvious I wouldn't have room for my laptop I put on my headphones, grabbed my Bible and just opened it. I opened to the first chapter of Luke...so I figured that was where I was supposed to start.


It has been a long since I read anything from the Gospels. I usually spend time in Paul's letters or in one of the Prophet books of the Old Testament...so it was fun to go back to the beginning days of Jesus. And I had forgotten what a truly traumatic yet exciting start Jesus' life had.


It's not uncommon today, sadly, to see unwed expectant mothers. I don't know how common it was 2,000 years ago...but since there was a pretty stiff penalty under Jewish law for such 'activity,' I bet it was pretty low. So for a young lady to be approached by an angel to say, "Guess what - you're pregnant...and the father is the Holy Spirit"...and then to try and convince your family of that...


Well...let's just say I bet there are some mom's and dad's that would have a hard time buying that story.

And then there's Joseph. Imagine Mary dropping that story on him! And he believed it! Of course he also got a visit from an angel as well, but I still can't help but wondering how confident he was in her story.


Of course everyone is familiar with the story of Christmas...so I kinda breezed through that.


Then I came to Luke 2...when Joseph and Mary take Jesus to the Temple. The Holy place - the most important icon in their Jewish faith. The place where God lived. And they encounter two people there that, honestly, brought tears to my eyes as I re-read the account.


I LOVE hearing people praise my boys - whether it be for their soccer skills, their basketball skills, how polite they are, how handsome they are, etc. It brings me great joy to hear other people compliment my children. It's a blessing to them, and a blessing to Robin and I.


So I can scarcely imagine how Joseph and Mary must have felt when a man named Simeon takes the baby Jesus from his mother, holds him in his arms, lifts his eyes to Heaven and says, "God, I've seen what I need to see. I can die now." And then looks at Mary and says, "This is the most important baby ever to be born in Israel."


They then encounter an old lady named Anna. She also grabs the baby from their arms and begins to yell at the top of her lungs to all who would listen, proclaiming the name of the Lord and praising Him for allowing her to see the day when the Savior came on the scene. It doesn't even compare to the first day you take your newborn to church or to a big family function - where everyone is standing around admiring your baby - ooh-ing and ah-ing over this new little blessing in your life.


And I guess my favorite verse of the whole chapter is 2:51. It's right after Joseph and Mary have found an adolescent Jesus after looking for him for THREE DAYS!!! (I would've been tempted to whoop the little man's rear!). Luke says, "His mother treasured all these things in her heart." After all...it was her baby.

So I will try to do what Mary did - treasure these days in my heart. Amidst all the ER visits, the trips to Time Out, the fighting and bickering...I will treasure these days. Because my little boys won't be little boys forever.