An Insightful Moment with Mary

Ah… my son got his name from the angel in this story, that was my first thought…

My second thought goes to Zechariah – and how often, even in today’s time, it is the most “religious” people who still need a sign before they submit to God…

But what really struck a chord with me was Mary, mother of God… you have to think that she knew the prophecy, all the Jews did, they were waiting for the Messiah, and you hoped he would come in your lifetime so you could witness it and maybe get something out of it… but I cant help thinking that, like me, Mary was looking for the Messiah as already full-grown, not yet to be born

How interesting to think that you would be the one to physically bring God into this world, to be responsible for protecting him, for rearing him, for teaching him…. I can only think this must have been terrifying – God is dependent on YOU

As a mother, these thoughts go through your head your whole pregnancy…. Will I be a good mother? How will I know what to do? What if something happens? But as soon as you see that face for the first time, you fall in love and you know there is nothing that will hold your heart as close as that baby (except for maybe the next baby), and you will give all you have to protect that child and love that child with all of your being…

But as terrifying as the thought of raising your own child is, imagine being responsible for God’s child…. What pressure, what privilege… What can you teach God that He doesn’t already know? How can you be responsible for correcting God? But ahhh… the privilege of making God smile, watching Him grow…

I watched The Passion of the Christ when I was pregnant. I had heard the critic reviews and was full well expecting to have to hide my eyes from the violence. The violence didn’t bother me at all, actually it was less than I had perceived b/c I knew the torture of the cross. There was only one part that got to me – that had tears streaming down my face….

Jesus is walking the road to Calvary, carrying the burden of the cross. His mother watching from the sidelines, nothing else she can do. And Jesus stumbles… and it brings back a memory to Mary of Jesus as a small child. He is running to her and He falls, and she runs to Him, scoops Him up, and makes it all better. She cant do that now, and it breaks her heart.

Did she know what she was accepting when she submitted? Did she know that He was only hers to have and hold for a little while? Was she ready to give her heart so wholly, knowing that it would be ripped out later? Was the privilege worth the price of a mother’s heart? Of being the mother of God?

This post reminded me a lot of Mark Lowry’s song, Mary Did You Know?, which my husband sang for Christmas this year….

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered
Will soon deliver you

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Did you know
That your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby
You've kissed the face of God

Mary, did you know?
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
And the dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of the Lamb

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Did you know
That your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding
Is the Great I Am

“May it be to me as you say” – am I living this whole heartedly for God? Am I giving Him everything that I have, everything He deserves? And even if Im able to say it, am I willing to live it?