The Woman with the Baby

This morning was a special "treat" for me. As I was concocting my to-do list for the day, I realized that I had few items that I would need to get at the store. Not a lot, but enough. I decided that if I left the house pretty early in the morning, I could get to the store, pick up my items and be back home before Craig left for work, meaning that I could leave the kids here and shop alone. Even one of the customer service guys made a comment about me being in there all by myself.

So, as I finished up, I selected the self-checkout. Not abnormal for me. However, the conversation I overheard completely left me speechless.

checkout-woman #1: Do we have the Christmas stamps in yet? Did we get the snowmen?
checkout-woman #2: Yes. We had to choose and we got the snowflakes and the . . . who's the woman with the baby?
checkout-woman #1: Madonna?
checkout-woman #2: Yeah, that's it - Madonna. We got her.

The woman with the baby? That's how she referred to Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Son of God. The baby is not just an ordinary baby. He is the One who has taken our (well-deserved) punishment to allow us an open path to spend eternity with the Creator of all creation. He stepped out of heaven down into our sin-filled, selfish, ugly world to show us what true love, true sacrifice is.

Has our society come so far that we don't know Mary's (and therefore Jesus') importance to our eternity? Have we drifted so far that we can't remember her name? Have we failed to teach and show others that Christmas is not just about presents or some story about just another baby?

It hurt me so much to hear Mary and Jesus referred to so flippantly, so nonchalantly, to be mentioned as just "the woman with the baby". It stung my heart and my ears. Yet, I know that I go through each day and the sin that I struggle with and view so flippantly and nonchalantly hurts God so much more than I could ever imagine.

I hope that this year, this crazy holiday season will still give you time to ponder and appreciate the true meaning of the season - God's display of grace, mercy and love in the form of a precious, perfect child, a child set to grow and teach and die for our wrongdoings.