But when we live willingly with mystery however it appears in our lives we can be both host and guest. We can receive the stranger who turns out to be more than we had thought, barging into our lives to serve us. The powerful are brought down from their thrones, said Mary. Perhaps it is wise to be ready for the unexpected when the too-rushed clerk in the store stops and smiles, when the lonely one interrupts our lives with an invitation for coffee. To be at a birth is holy, says Anne Smith, who has attended many.
All time stands still, nothing else matters.
The midwife and I will just sit there, we give encouraging words to the mother, we look at each other. It is a holy silence, just that waiting for transformation. So the kings must have felt, on their long journey. Surely they ran out of words, plodding along in the knowledge that they were part of a story much larger than themselves, one far beyond their ability to influence or change. Only the power of the contractions will make the birth happen, says Smith.