On Babies

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" John 1:14

People have lots of babies in the valley.  Our family of five is considered a slightly small family compared to many in Guatemala.  Over the past few months, DeeDee and I have been helping with a baseline study of the valley.  Questionnaires are filled out by a random sampling of families in each village on basic health and education.  Questions are asked such as "When do you wash your hands?" and "What do you do when you wash your hands?" (ie: Do you use soap).  Among the questions are also "How many times have you given birth?" and "How many of these children are living?".  These questions are the hard questions to enter into the computer at times.  Some families have six children and all are living.  Others are more difficult.  There are women who have given birth four times and none are living. When asked "Who helped you give birth?", most women answer that the local mid-wife or their mother helped.  One particular woman, however, answered that no one helped her give birth to her children.  As a woman who has given birth, this is difficult for me to understand.

Even closer to home, our friend and employee in Project Ulpan, Julio, asked for time off about a month ago because he needed to help a friend build a tiny casket for their 8 month-old baby.  Only a few days after, Kevin and my boys witnessed a village digging a grave for another tiny casket.  It is telling and sad that the newborn we visited last week doesn't yet have a name.  Maybe that's just the custom in the valley, but why?  Is it because so many die that names are not given until later?

There was a baby born a little over 2,000 years ago who we celebrate at this time of year.  In the birth of this baby lies all our hopes.  The hope that His light will break through the darkness of babies dying and people hurting.  I find that the Christmas songs that mean the most to me this year are the ones that talk of the hope we have with the birth of Jesus.  One particularly poignant song to me this year is Point of Grace's "Emmanuel".  If you've heard it, the melody is beautiful, but the words are what convict me most (If you've not heard it, find it and listen to it).  The last line of the chorus says, "Emmanuel, be God in us".  Jesus came to be God with us.  But He didn't leave us empty-handed when He returned to His father.  He gave us His spirit, and with it, the ability to continue to be "God with us" to a world lost in darkness.  He paved the way for us by His perfect example and then said, "Now, go be my light to those you find in need".

So, I celebrate Christmas this year with extra spaces in my heart for the people in the Ulpan Valley and with the hope that our presence there will be a light in the darkness for them as their lives have been a light in my darkness.  I celebrate with thankfulness overflowing that God's perfect plan doesn't leave us alone but gives us His presence forevermore.  I celebrate that God is with us.