The Very Best Gift Read Online Free
Author: CONNIE NEAL
familiar Christmas story unfold before us in this pageant with real animals, I watched Mary ride her donkey toward Bethlehem (the stage at the front of the cathedral.) I focused on Mary more and more with each contraction. And with every contraction, I felt closer to her. I wasn’t sure who was going to have her baby first: me or Mary.
My respect for Mary and what she went through to bring the Christ child into the world grew that night. I had never really thought of her physical journey toward Bethlehem. She was a young teen like the girls I worked with in youth group. She was in a strange city and didn’t have a place to go. She was away from her mother and father, about to give birth to the Son of God in a dark, cold, lonely stable. Now, for the first time, it dawned on me that she had to be having contractions while riding on that donkey. So as I watched Mary and Joseph take their places in the stable, I looked at my watch and noted that my contractions were now consistently less than three minutes apart. I leaned over and whispered to Patrick that we might need to stop by the Birth Center on our way home.
As I sat there watching Mary and Joseph that night in 1990, Patrick and I had also been dealing with another kind of pain and uncertainty. Our marriage was being torn apart by difficult circumstances. We were doing our best to take care of our little family and stay together, but we didn’t know how we were going to make it. We had both lost our jobs; we had to move to a new city; we had marriage problems that hurt us deeply, and even though we were committed to our marriage, we were still uncertain whether our family would remain intact. But we had this hope of our new baby coming into the world. We had the hope of the baby Jesus who came into the world to save us from our sins. We had hope.
Part of The Glory of Christmas recited the words of the prophet Isaiah speaking about the baby that was born of the Virgin Mary and laid in that manger in Bethlehem so long ago.
It explained why the baby Jesus came into the world and why he came when and where he did. It quoted the Bible:
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son,
and they will call him ‘Immanuel’ – which means, ‘ God with us .’”
(Matthew 1:22-23)
That night in December 1990, Patrick and I were able to finish watching the pageant. We drove straight to the Birth Center where I was checked on . My contractions stopped that night and Haley was born the next day. Now, in December of 1997, I sat in the same seats where Patrick and I had sat together awaiting Haley’s birth. But now I sat here with my beautiful little girl who had just turned seven. Haley loved the live animals. I didn’t tell her that “real flying angels” were soon going to fill the skies, singing “Glory to God in the Highest!” right above our heads.
27 One of Many Flying Angels in The Glory of Christmas
She sat in amazement as the three Magi rode in on live camels; their ornate head-dresses making them seem larger than life. Haley strained to see Joseph lead Mary in on a real donkey while the star of Bethlehem shone overhead. And as I watched this scene repeated with Haley seated next to me, I recalled how much God had brought us through in the seven years since I had sat there pregnant with her.
In those intervening years, God miraculously supplied the money we needed, gave us new jobs to replace the ones we had lost, helped us forgive each other and mended our broken hearts. He gave us a house in which we made a new home. He gave us every single thing we needed and much more. And , I told my family gathered around the dinner table – who seemed to have put the “best gift” competition aside – that brings us to what I believe is the best gift… The VERY Best Gift.
THE VERY BEST
My respect for Mary and what she went through to bring the Christ child into the world grew that night. I had never really thought of her physical journey toward Bethlehem. She was a young teen like the girls I worked with in youth group. She was in a strange city and didn’t have a place to go. She was away from her mother and father, about to give birth to the Son of God in a dark, cold, lonely stable. Now, for the first time, it dawned on me that she had to be having contractions while riding on that donkey. So as I watched Mary and Joseph take their places in the stable, I looked at my watch and noted that my contractions were now consistently less than three minutes apart. I leaned over and whispered to Patrick that we might need to stop by the Birth Center on our way home.
As I sat there watching Mary and Joseph that night in 1990, Patrick and I had also been dealing with another kind of pain and uncertainty. Our marriage was being torn apart by difficult circumstances. We were doing our best to take care of our little family and stay together, but we didn’t know how we were going to make it. We had both lost our jobs; we had to move to a new city; we had marriage problems that hurt us deeply, and even though we were committed to our marriage, we were still uncertain whether our family would remain intact. But we had this hope of our new baby coming into the world. We had the hope of the baby Jesus who came into the world to save us from our sins. We had hope.
Part of The Glory of Christmas recited the words of the prophet Isaiah speaking about the baby that was born of the Virgin Mary and laid in that manger in Bethlehem so long ago.
It explained why the baby Jesus came into the world and why he came when and where he did. It quoted the Bible:
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son,
and they will call him ‘Immanuel’ – which means, ‘ God with us .’”
(Matthew 1:22-23)
That night in December 1990, Patrick and I were able to finish watching the pageant. We drove straight to the Birth Center where I was checked on . My contractions stopped that night and Haley was born the next day. Now, in December of 1997, I sat in the same seats where Patrick and I had sat together awaiting Haley’s birth. But now I sat here with my beautiful little girl who had just turned seven. Haley loved the live animals. I didn’t tell her that “real flying angels” were soon going to fill the skies, singing “Glory to God in the Highest!” right above our heads.
27 One of Many Flying Angels in The Glory of Christmas
She sat in amazement as the three Magi rode in on live camels; their ornate head-dresses making them seem larger than life. Haley strained to see Joseph lead Mary in on a real donkey while the star of Bethlehem shone overhead. And as I watched this scene repeated with Haley seated next to me, I recalled how much God had brought us through in the seven years since I had sat there pregnant with her.
In those intervening years, God miraculously supplied the money we needed, gave us new jobs to replace the ones we had lost, helped us forgive each other and mended our broken hearts. He gave us a house in which we made a new home. He gave us every single thing we needed and much more. And , I told my family gathered around the dinner table – who seemed to have put the “best gift” competition aside – that brings us to what I believe is the best gift… The VERY Best Gift.
THE VERY BEST
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