Luke 2:7 “. . . and Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a son”
Our spiritual godchild is our firstborn. No matter how many physical children we might have sired or birthed, no matter how many creative ideas have hatched in us, no matter what serious insights we have been privileged to consider, no matter how old we are in calendar years, the godchild is our firstborn. The firstborn of the essence of God in our conscious awareness. The firstborn from our soul womb, the holy place deep within us.
Luke 1:31 “you will be with child and give birth to a son”
Of course the spiritual child born in you must be male. It is the masculine part of us that needs to be transformed, made new. The thinking, willful, decision-making part of us is the part that needs to be reborn. And that is precisely the part of us that must give permission for something new to emerge in it. It is the masculine free will that must will a new beginning.
The inner, creative, feminine knows all along what needs to happen and is more than willing to be the womb for this godchild.
It is significant that Christmas is celebrated by us at the winter solstice–the point of shortest daylight and longest night. The nighttime represents our unconscious–the dark, hidden part of us that must birth the new being within us–the Christ into our personality. This birth comes only after a period of gestation within the unconscious womb. The long dark winter represents the long gestation period. The new birth occurs when the darkness is the longest, out of which comes the dawn of a new life. Only after the longest, darkest period in our lives can this new birth occur.
In the mythological story of the soul–the Christian Nativity narrative–the conception takes place in the spring, the time when nature exhibits her greatest fertility. Birth takes place in the season when nature manifests no sign of life. Most vegetation seems dead. Even light–the source of life–wanes to the point where the days are shortest and the nights are longest. It seems that light is being swallowed up in darkness, that life is being consumed by death. But out of this darkness–this womb of winter–comes something new and wonderful–hoped for, longed for, desired above all, yet not dared expected.
Darkness also represents the unawareness of our conscious to the light within us–the abundant life Jesus said he came to give. Jesus is the physical person who represents the spiritual person of God that wants to be experienced within each of us. The darkness of our conscious awareness to spiritual matters is such that it does not understand, expect, or even “have a clue” to the inner light that continues to shine in our soul even though we do not see it, do not experience it. We must finally experience our fill of darkness–become sick and tired–even despairing of looking for some sort of light to warm and illumine us. We must finally come to the “dark night of the soul” and cry out for light in order for God to be able to make us see and experience the light he placed within us before we were born–the light he begot us with–his own holiness.
Winter is the worst time to have a baby–cold weather, lots of germs and disease going around, little sunshine. It is difficult for a newborn to get a good start physically. Winter is the best time for a baby to be born for non-physical reasons: it puts a ray of hope and joy in the midst of our bleak mid-winter–a ray of human light into the short days and long nights of the year’s end. In the winter of our lives, when the days are short, light has faded from our lives. We need new light, a new kind of light.
How does birth of a newborn connect with the winter solstice? Think small. On the shortest day of the year, in the smallest amount of light, is born the smallest unit of human life. Solstice and the birth of Christ come together to point us to a celebration, not only of what has happened, is, and will be in terms of the patterns of earth and sun and a special baby born one winter’s night in a cattle stall, but of something that is designed to occur within our individual lives.
Not only do we celebrate the mid-winter’s lengthening of days and the Christ-Child as the “Light of the World.” We also celebrate the possibility of the coming of a kind of light the kindles a fire within us on the altar of our hearts–a fire that we shall never stop tending because of all that is provides for us: light, warmth, life, joy.
Many Christians today are not interested in what others describe as a second birth. But Jesus gives a graphic picture to Nicodemus about the spiritual birth that needs to happen before one can enjoy full relationship with God.
Nicodemus kept thinking in terms of something physical and Jesus kept talking about being born of the Spirit. Birth is the essential word because as our anger and guilt and shame are washed away, our new original Self is born in us. We are not the same as we were before.
Both kinds of birthing include labor—and pain. Our spiritual birth includes the tears and anguish of remorse of all that we have committed and omitted in our attempts to make ourselves into what we thought we ought to be. There has to be some rearranging of our personality—which has a similar trauma to the pain of parturition.
But just as a mother will declare, as she dotes on the infant she has born, that all the labor pains are worth the result, so one who has experienced spiritual rebirth will declare those labor pains produced something invaluable.
Your second birth awaits your cooperation.
Ann Glover O’Dell
5 August 2018
Sometimes babies are born in the most unusual places: a subway station, the back seat of a taxi, the corner of a crowded restaurant. We never know where a baby might choose to make his appearance into the world.
The pregnant mother makes all possible preparations, packs a little suitcase for her trip to the hospital, or lays out all that will be needed when the midwife arrives. A little nursery is made ready, a place for the infant to lie safe and warm. If there are available funds, colorful decorations are hung to attract the infant once his eyes are able to focus.
But all the time no one knows exactly when the baby will decide to be born—or how much in a hurry he will be to get here. Sometimes the mother has no time to travel to the clinic or wait for the midwife. She is not able to make the baby postpone his appearance but rather must cooperate with this child who is eager to become a citizen of this earthly kingdom. Babies generally have their own time-table and will not be thwarted in their determination.
The godchild within us is indeed one of those with a birthing mind of its own. We absolutely cannot predict when God will bring our transformed spirit into our conscious awareness. It is God’s secret, meant to reinforce his design and determination to have his way, to act on his own time schedule. And it matters not whether we have made any preparations at all. In fact, our ability to make any preparations is highly unlikely. This birth is God’s surprise for us, the best Christmas gift ever, whether it comes on December 25 or any of the other 364 days available.
Ann Glover O’Dell
18 December 2017
Tidings of great joy
to you
in you
for you are being born into
a wonder
a grace
a being fresh and new
for you
of you
by you
with you
as you
scarce aware of space prepared
are knitting infant clothes
and humming lullabies
and all the while
know nothing
of the miracle
you are become
Ann Glover O’Dell
26 June 2009
What wants to be born in us? What is eager to be hatched? A new, guilt-free, anger-free being. Our real Self. Our original personality.
A self is born which, when a mistake is made gives an immediate apology because the complementary feeling is immediate and authentic. We are immediately sorry for whatever misdeed we have committed. So the apology is genuine and immediately forthcoming. And even though the event may linger in memory, the wrenching guilt that used to linger, multiplying our not-OK feelings, lingers no longer.
Some scholars say our preeminent problem is that of shame: being ashamed of who we are–and who we are not, ashamed that we are not enough–in any situation. We can’t do enough, know enough, have enough, can’t be enough–no matter what. But guilt is the word we use to talk about our not-OK-ness. And when the guilt disappears, the shame and despair it covers also disappear.
What wants to be born in you? The real Self, the original you wants to be born–the human creature, begotten from the union of the inner masculine and feminine parts of the personality. The union of your rational will with your creative intuition (conscious/unconscious) that produces in you the Nurturing Parent, Capable Adult, and Free Child. The new self (having moved from childhood to adulthood to godhood) recreates our sense of awe and wonder and delight–the same that God experiences within his good creation, pronounced good from the beginning. The goodness/godness within us is what we are searching for. And what is searching for us.
The new Child is born–not childish, immature in its ways, but a new child-likeness–an innocence that lives in the world but believes the good will prevail. That celebrates the good in everyone/everything. That looks for the redemptive in every situation. That is able to celebrate wonder and awe and the comic–everywhere. That experiences joy, laughter, the expectation of every day holding the same excitement and newness that Christmas Day did for us as children.
Dream scholars suggest that when that happens we will dream of a wedding uniting a king and queen. I say a dream of a dear child is what tells us either that ours has been born or is calling us to allow it to be born.
Our story begets its own fairy tale happy ending. But ours is not a fantasy. Ours is a ‘until death do us part’ union, which keeps us grounded in the inner life no matter what happens in the outer.
Ann Glover O'Dell 