Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A Different Perspective

I may be a little bias, but I just have to say that I really feel like I have the best job ever. I get to take care of new moms and babies everyday and get paid for it!  I'm telling you, it's wonderful.  I mean don't get me wrong, I have my fair share of hard days, but really for the most part, I love what I do.  And one of my favorite parts of my job is being the one who gets to hand a brand new baby to his/her mother for the very first time!  There is nothing like it.  I love to stand aside and watch how enamored parents are with their newest addition, and I'm always amazed at how much of an affect someone so tiny can have on a family.
The past couple of weeks as Christmas has come and gone, and I've handed many new babies to many new mothers, I have thought a lot about the humble birth of our Savior and how Mary must have felt that first Christmas night as she held her newborn son.  I'm sure she felt a little fearful and overwhelmed as she thought about raising the Savior of the World.  And despite all of her feelings of anxiety and inadequacy (as I'm sure all parents feel when they bring a new spirit into this wicked world), I'd like to think that in a lowly stable on that first Christmas night, the young mother Mary unwrapped her baby from his swaddling clothes and counted his ten tiny toes, smiled at his wrinkly skin, let him wrap his little hand around her finger and just adored him not only has the man who she knew would ultimately save her, but simply as her tiny baby boy whom God had sent for her to raise.  And I also believe (as I'm sure all mothers do) she offered a prayer of gratitude to Heavenly Father for trusting her enough to raise one of His children and plead for His help in doing so.
I'm not a mother yet, and maybe I'm not qualified to be making such assumptions but I have been blessed with the opportunity to spend a great deal of time with new babies and mothers, and although people come from different backgrounds and cultures, from my perspective, the reactions of parents when they meet their perfect little baby for the first time is universal, and I feel so grateful to be a part of it!