I have been thinking about a quote I read, "A baby is God's opinion that life should go on." I have been privileged to bring 2 of my own children into this world and have had many opportunities to rejoice with other parents when their children were born. Every birth is a miracle, and every newborn baby is a bundle of potential. Each and every child's life holds innumerable promises that are yet to be fulfilled. We may understand the biological process, there is something wonderfully mysterious and sacred about giving birth. Yes, labor and delivery are accompanied by pain and discomfort. But the end result is the gift of a new life that makes all the discomfort worthwhile.

How much more miraculous must the birth of Jesus have seemed to Joseph and Mary on that first holy night. This child was to have a destiny unlike any other. Surely Joseph and Mary must have wondered what all of this could possibly mean as they looked down at the tiny infant sleeping peacefully in the manger. "The birth of your first child will change your life like nothing else, " a wise person told me when our oldest daughter was born. But the birth of God's Son has made an immeasurable difference in all of us. And we have yet to explore the full implication of His birth.

How true are the words of the song 4Him sings, "this is such a strange way, to save the world."