The moon was shining, and even though she wasn't completely sure about what she was hearing, Maria thought she heard a faint song, whispered by the wind and the palm trees above.
The crickets around her sung, about freedom and love. Love. A love so profound that everything around her seemed to take identity in it. But she couldn't listen to the glorious music, for her ears were clouded, and all of her senses were directed to the small bundle that lay in her lap.
The moon shone over the baby's face, giving his soft features a gentle glow. Maria smiled softly. She had carried the child for nine months inside her womb, and still she couldn't believe that such a beautiful creature had come out of her body. However, even more wonderful was the thought that this was a child of the heavens.
Maria smiled once again, remembering her surprise and apprehension when the angel (yes, an actual angel) had shown himself to her almost ten months ago. She'd been walking home from the river, pondering about the love that draw people together, that had drawn her to Joseph... There was a sudden blast of light, which blinded her and made her stumble, almost falling. When she beheld a man wrapped in the same light that had blinded her, she fell to her knees. The water basin she'd had upon her head fell to the ground, but she paid it no heed. The reverence and awe inspired within her was too much to bear, and with a twinge of fear, she began to tremble. Then, the angel Gabriel began to speak. First he raised her to her feet, calming her with a very soothing voice. While she stood, he praised her for the woman that she was. Standing up, Maria got a good look of him, and while he very much resembled a man, she could tell that something was different, although she couldn't quite put her finger on what.
Looking now on the events of ten months past, she chuckled a little. Feeling Yahveh knit this little boy into her womb was not what she expected. His touch was gentler than she would've thought, and warm, but at the same time refreshing. She remembered how she'd known in that moment that she was carrying the baby that would become the link between heaven and earth. To think that she, simple Maria of Bethlehem, would be the mother of the Savior!
The child stirred in his sleep, and she held her breath, waiting to see if he would wake up. When she was sure that he wouldn't, she relaxed, and went back to studying his small, round face. His soft rosy lips seemed a bit pale in the moonlight, and his hair was richer than most babies'. Or so she thought, she hadn't meet many newborns, for she was still young. She caressed the baby's silky hair, and started humming a cradle song. Looking at the stars above, she once more whispered her thanks to the Heavenly Father for trusting her humble being with such a task. The path so far hadn't been easy, and she knew it would get even harder. Taking her eyes away from the stars, she saw his closed eyes, and knew that they enclosed two tiny, beautiful stars of their own. A wide smile filled her face, and her heart once more filled with love, that sweet, tender motherly love. She whispered his name to him, and the baby seemed to rejoice at the sound of those two simple syllables. A name spoken to her by a heavenly being. A simple name, common, yet beautiful. Savior. Yeshúa.
