Faithful Friday - "Mary"

Thank you for joining me for the Christmas tours the past few days! I’m taking a break today to share a Faithful Friday post with you.


Last week during the Sunday morning church service, our pastor brought the message on Promise. And that was just the beginning for me of a lengthy thought process that opened up a flood of emotions.

As Pastor Michael painted the picture that I never thought about so deeply until then, I was able to imagine how things might have been for Mary, the young virgin chosen to be the mother of Jesus.

Can you imagine being so young and being visited by an angel that told you that you were favored by God and chosen to be the mother of Jesus?

But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

 

Luke 1:30-32 

First of all, something I had thought about before…..we always see angels as these pretty dainty female angels, but in fact, the angel that visited Mary was a male….Gabriel. And the fact that every time an angel is seen by someone, the first words are “Fear Not” makes me think that the angels must be more like big muscular burly males that would cause even the most courageous person to fear them! And it makes sense to have such angels guarding us and protecting us by the power of God too!

Anyway, as our pastor continued painting the picture, can you imagine Mary having to go home and as time passed and it began to show that she was indeed growing bigger and expecting a child…….can you just imagine her father wanting to know who he was? Who was the father of this child? Who had done this to his daughter? I’m sure he was ready to go after someone! I mean this couldn’t have been easy to believe and accept, even by her family. And just knowing how folks looked at Mary and talked about her had to break her heart, even though God prepared Joseph’s heart and he stood by her. I mean this was a time when she could have been put to death for such a thing! I know I would hate for people to think bad things toward me!

Already I was thinking on this, and then we went to see the program The Singing Christmas Tree that Sunday evening (which was wonderful by the way). When it came to the part that walked through the account of Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and Mary giving birth to baby Jesus in that stable, oh the emotions that overwhelmed me and the tears flowed. At that moment, I saw it all. I imagined myself in Mary’s place. Oh how beautiful baby Jesus was. You know how it feels as a mother when you first hold that baby and you feel like you would do anything in the world for him or her and always protect him or her…..that you will shelter your baby and keep him or her from harm! 

Then it showed Jesus at the age of about two or so when the wise men came to honor Jesus with gifts and I could imagine how it must have been with that sweet Jesus boy at that age. I love the age of 2….how proud Mary must have been to see him honored so! And I imagined how the look of love and pride on her face must have shone!

And then I had a fast forward and I imagined how it must have been being his mother all those years and then watching him being put to death, a horrible death on a cross. How helpless she must have felt! How awful it must have been. I tell you I had an overwhelming picture of it all and the tears just flowed.

This Christmas season, I have a deeper appreciation for Mary as the mother of Jesus.

But, I’m thankful that I got that mental image because it made me focus on God’s plan and His promise for us. I’m thankful that Jesus was willing to live life on this earth knowing He would die on that cross for us one day. I’m thankful that Mary accepted her favor from God and never looked back as mother of Jesus. I’m thankful that Joseph was sensitive to God and stood by Mary and was a wonderful earthly father to Jesus.

This Christmas season, as we celebrate what Christmas is all about…..I have a deeper appreciation. And by the way, it’s not Happy Holidays or Happy Winter Holidays, it’s Merry CHRISTmas! I’m so thankful that we celebrate Christ! But in the midst of this, I still have a new deep appreciation and love for Mary.....mother to mother.  :)   

Merry CHRISTmas!

If you would like to participate in Faithful Friday, you can link up with Joy here. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend! I hope you can stop by tomorrow and join me for another Christmas tour too.  :)