She Brought Forth her Firstborn (Diede alla Luce)

The second chapter of Luca, Luke, tells the story of the Birth of Christ. Specifically, Luca 2:7 tells us that Mary gave birth to, or brought forth, her firstborn son.

But if you read Luca 2:7 in an Italian version of the Bible, you won't see a literal translation of gave birth or brought forth. It says, diede alla luce.

This phrase literally means, she gave to the light, her firstborn son. What an awesome way to describe Christ's birth into this world. Now lest you think this is a specific way of describing the entrance of the Son of God into the world, let me point out that Luca 1:57 uses this same phrase, diede alla luce, when speaking of the birth of John the Baptist as well. In fact, this wording is used throughout the Italian version of the Bible and throughout Italy in general.

In the Italian language, bringing a child into this world is commonly referred to as giving that child to the light.

This says to me, and reminds me, of how precious each and every life is.

When someone is first born, they are brought from the darkness of their mother's womb into the light of day. They are pushed out into this world to begin their God given path in this life.

John 1:9 tells us that Christ lights every man that comes into this world.

Think how much better this world would be if we all diligently pursued our path into the fullness of God's light and lived out our lives there.

And of course, we can never truly achieve this until we give ourselves over to Christ. You might say that this is what being born again does for us; brings us to the fullness of the light of Christ. Likewise, it shapes us into lights of the world to in turn help others also find their way.

Proverbs 4:18 teaches that the path of the just is as the shining light that shines more and more unto the perfect day.

May each one of us grow to walk and live in the fullness of God's light. A privilege and opportunity granted us since the time of our birth when we were first, diede alla luce… exposed to, brought into and given… to the light.