Labor of Love - Jill Phillips

Christmas songs sometimes have a way of "idealizing" what the first Christmas must have been like, either removing the very real pain that Mary and Joseph would have been feeling, or removing the messiness that is real life. While Jesus's birth is absolutely a reason to celebrate and rejoice and sing Joy to the World with the angels, it is also a time to recognize a beautiful young woman who brought that savior into the world.

I love that this song talks about both - it was a labor of pain, it was a labor of love. It was messy (there was blood on the ground) and full of fear (there were no midwives to be found) - but they did what they needed to do to bring into the world this precious baby. We think of that baby as our Savior (because that's who He was) but to them he was their child. Their baby - to love and care for and raise up. To kiss his boo boos, to bandage his finger, to hold, to feed, to care for. A very real human experience, bringing a baby into the world, accompanied by the knowledge that this was the son of God.

It was not a silent night... it was a labor of love.


It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
On the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
For the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love

It was not a silent night
On the streets of David's town

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Andrew Peterson
Labor of Love lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group