Somersaults of Pure Joy - Elizabeth

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has been mindful
 of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
 holy is his name. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home Luke 1:39-49, 56

I was overjoyed when I heard that my young relative Mary was coming to stay.
She needs a safe place to be until all the fuss dies down.
Zech and I were the obvious choice
after all, we too are awaiting the birth of an unexpected child.
I could do with someone to have a good chat to,
Zechariah still can't speak,
and won't until after our baby is born.
Meanwhile we have become very profficient in communicating by signs, sighs and giggles.
I must admit, the news that we are to finally become parents
in our very old age,
was a huge shock.
Now I am getting used to the idea I treasure every moment.
Zechariah had good reason to doubt the angel.
But God's plan's are always perfect.
Zechariah's lack of speech certainly gave credibility to his story.
The Chief Priests would have insisted that he had made it all up,
but you cannot argue with someone who has lost the ability to talk.
Anyway, Mary and I had a lot to catch up on.

Mary has always held a special place in my heart
When she arrived, she rushed in, with arms wide open
to embrace me and my baby bump,
which was lovely.
Then something amazing happened.
For the first time I felt the child within me move,
I say move, but it was more like a somersault of pure joy.
What perfect timing!
Then I felt this warmth flow through my body
God silence Zechariah,
but to me he gave words of knowledge, understanding and praise.
As it hit me that I was in the presence of the woman
who was to bring God into the world as a baby.
The child within me gave another somersault of pure joy.
Mary responded with her own words of praise to God.

We just stood and held each other,
and marvelled that the babies within us
both had a unique role to play.
The child inside me,
who was to prepare the way,
was inches from the one he will prepare the way for
as part of God's amazing plan.
I felt like doing a somersault of pure joy!