Christmas..the Good, Bad, and Ugly

It's Christmas time again. It's a time when I reflect the most on Jesus and Mary. Of course, no one in our day knows how Jesus or Mary looked. It's common sense to me to assume they looked like others in that area of the world. That area of the world is the middle east...a volatile place where religion takes on immense importance, and yet, the atrocities committed there seem inconsistent with the religions being practiced.

I'm an OB/GYN Nurse Practitioner. My job is to help women and the largest part of my job is managing the prenatal care of my patients. One of the things I do in my mind, especially at Christmas, is to look at my pregnant patients as if the baby they were carrying was Jesus. This is most difficult with my patients who have poor hygiene, poor education, and limited social skills. It challenges me to remember that God seems to specialize in doing things in "out of the ordinary" ways. Despite what the movies and pictures show, Mary may have been exactly like one of my difficult patients. I suspect God cared more about what was in Mary's heart and less on how others saw her.

Most of my clients are from other countries and cultures, mostly Hispanic, but recently I've seen more and more Middle Eastern women. I find myself looking at them and their husbands (yes, they all are married, unlike my American patients), and thinking about the fact that Mary and Jesus both probably looked much like they do. It's makes those patients,their husbands, and their culture more fascinating to me.

But I'm having one problem seeing Mary and Jesus in my middle eastern patients and their husbands because they also look like the terrorists from that region as well. I look at them and interact with them, and they seem very nice and no different from myself. I find myself thinking that the terrorists are probably nice and no different from me with the exception that they believe in what the are doing so strongly that they don't see their terrorist behavior as a contradiction.

So this Christmas things are a little more sobering for me...in every Mary and Jesus, I see a possible terrorist. In every terrorist, I see a possible Mary and Jesus. I've been forced to think more about the good in each of us...and the bad. I guess what makes me define myself as a Christian is my belief that because of God's gift of Jesus, we can all be forgiven for the bad and be raised up in our goodness.

I hope this Christmas that the Mary and Jesus in me will overshadow the terrorist in me. I hope for this in all people. Perhaps we could really have more peace on earth and good will to all.

Merry Christmas to you all.