Biblical Birth Stories

I found this mildly ironic...

In Primary this month I'm teaching the kids the Baptism song (children's hymns p.100, "Jesus came to John the Baptist..."). I figured the Senior Primary probably already knows the song, so I decided to delve more into the meaning of the song.

I wanted to emphasize that John the Baptist and Jesus were not only close friends, but family, so I set out to find the references in the New Testament. That brought me to Luke chapter 1. I read the whole chapter, I think for the first time.

It tells about how John the Baptist's parents, Zacharias and Elisabeth, were blessed to conceive even though they were old and she was barren. It's also the account of the angel visiting Mary to tell her she would bear the Son of God.

Then there were some details I definitely wouldn't have cared about in Seminary or even Institute...

Like that it mentions how many months along both Mary and Elisabeth (cousins) were when they met up and that Mary stayed with her for 3 months. Mary left to go back home when Elisabeth was full-term.

I dunno... I just felt like they became so much more real to me, those great women who gave birth to 2 of the most influential children to ever walk the Earth. Sometimes characters from the scriptures seem superhuman somehow. Being 38+ weeks now and reading about another woman's (Elisabeth) pregnancy was really pretty cool... Also that she DID give birth and wasn't pregnant forever!

In the end, I didn't even get to teach my lesson- our wonderful Elder's Quorum swooped in and ordered all the Sisters to go to Relief Society while they took over Primary. It was SO sweet of them!

Preparing my lesson was also a nice experience to help me remember that just because I may not be attending Gospel Doctrine anymore, I still have opportunities to learn more than the "basics" in Primary.