Pondering a Blueberry

Since I spoke about pregnancy in the last post I thought I would continue along this topic.  It is Christmas, the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus and before a baby is born a mama must be pregnant.

What does every new mom buy once she knows she is with child?  That’s right the What to Expect When You are Expecting.  This book will answer all our questions we will have over the next ten months.  Right?

It was Christmas time when I obtained my copy of this book.  I found it interesting how the authors compared the baby’s size to fruits and vegetables.  The week I distinctly remember reading was number 7.

"Your baby is now about the size ofa blueberry (and about 10,000 times bigger than he was at conception)."

Yep, my baby was the size of a blueberry.  I looked at the palm of my hand and tried to imagine this tiny fruit.  How incredibly small!  Yet this bitty blueberry had all of this going for him:

"Most of that growth is concentrated in the head as new brain cells are generated at the rate of 100 per minute. Your baby's mouth and tongue are forming as arm and leg buds sprout, and those little kidneys are getting ready to do their job"

I had a difficult time imagining, grasping that life the size of a blueberry was growing inside of me.  Then I had the revelation that Jesus was once the size of a blueberry.  Have you ever thought about this? 

But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  Luke 2:30-31

During the Christmas season we celebrate the birth of Jesus and ponder Mary, Joseph and the other cast of characters and their situations.  But do we take time to consider Jesus’ sacrifice?  Yes, I know we consider what it must have been like to be born in a manager because there was no room in the inn.  Do we consider Jesus before he was born?  He was conceived.  He was a fetus who had to grow for nine months in Mary’s womb. Jesus, God’s son, all-powerful, the one who holds the world in his hands was once held inside the womb of Mary.   The one who formed the universe now had to be formed.  Jesus reduced himself to this.  He left his father, he left his power, and he left heaven to wait to be born.  He sacrificed.  He made himself nothing. 

Who, being in very nature God, 

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing 

by taking the very nature of a servant, 

being made in human likeness. 

And being found in appearance as a man, 

he humbled himself 

by becoming obedient to death— 

even death on a cross!                        Philippians 2:6-8

When I think about Jesus’ sacrificial gift of salvation I want to see and understand it in the fullest that I can this side of heaven, including knowing Jesus humbled himself to the size of a blueberry.

May I encourage you to spend some moments reflecting on how small Jesus became, so we could have life and have it to the fullest?  He came not only to grow inside of Mary but in you.