When I was pregnant my senior year of college, I was still in Air Force ROTC. Once I started to show, I stood out like a sore thumb in my maternity clothes. (Side note: Maternity clothes have gotten way more stylish than when I was pregnant with my first.)
Everyone else was in uniform and there I was in my ballooned shirt and elastic pants that went up to my neck.
One day, I was standing in the hallway of the military science building and one of the younger cadets came over to me and just kind of stood there with a curious look on his face.
He was one of those guys that always joked around and you could never take him seriously, but he just stood in front of me, staring at my pregnant belly.
After a moment, he said in all seriousness, “There’s a baby in there.”
I smiled and laughed a bit and said, “That’s right, there sure is.”
He kept staring and then he said, “It’s crazy that there’s a baby marinating in there.”
I realized that he was, probably for the first time, truly seeing the wonder of a woman’s body and the beautiful miracle of life. I stood out so much in ROTC that he was forced to really contemplate it.
He then looked up at me, smiled, said, “That is so cool,” and then walked away.
Today, is the Annunciation of the Lord. Baby Jesus comes in nine months if you can believe that.
If my pregnant belly caused such awe and wonder in a young college guy, imagine the awe and wonder we should have at the Annunciation where a young Mary became the Mother of God.
Life is beautiful and the way Christ came into the world is beautiful—perfectly vulnerable in the body of a woman, but what a wonderful place to be.
Have a blessed day, Catholic Pilgrims.
*Photo is of the ceiling at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston, SC.
