Mary

As I circled the parking lot of the mall for about the 10th time this afternoon, unsuccessful in finding a single parking spot that wasn't already taken or wasn't covered by snow, yet not as aggressive and irritated as the other fellow shoppers, a familiar song came onto the radio.

It's one of my favorites: Mary Did You Know. However, when I listened to it today, I don't know what it was, but something clicked.

Growing up in the Christian church, I never really learned a whole lot about Mary. Nothing that I remember that was too indepth. I knew she was Jesus' mother. She was told that she was going to have a child... God's child. She was engaged to be married to a guy named Joseph. They went to Bethlehem, couldn't find a place to stay, so Mary had baby Jesus in a stable. Placed him in a manger. And she raised him as he grew up and walked the earth. She was his Mom. She then watched him die on the Cross.

Something about being a mother has changed me. I can't watch an emotional scene on TV or on a movie without my eyes welling up and my mouth starting to quiver. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT MY MOM DID and DOES EVEN TO THIS DAY :) We always made fun of her for being so sappy and would look over during a sad/emotional part of a movie and laugh at her tearing up. I can't believe this is me now! :) Ahh, sweet revenge/pay-back I suppose.

I want to protect and watch over my children to keep them from any and all harm. I know I can't, I know it's unrealistic, and I know I really have to let them live, let them learn from their mistakes, let the hurts and disappointments shape who they are and who they will be. But I think it's undoubtedly a mother's instinct (momma bear instinct) to want to protect and shelter. {Emotion starting to well up in my throat right now. Ugh. I'm such a sap}. I want to put them first, think of them before myself, and love them with all I have. I know that every challenge I've encountered, every rejection, every fear, every struggle, every disappointment, has made me stronger and more reliant on God. I am sooo thankful for parents who raised me in the faith and laid a solid foundation for me. It's the best gift they ever could've given.

Now think about Mary. Mary was just like us. She was engaged (think about an engaged couple you know... okay, I've got one. I'll just say Carrie Underwood because she's the first one I thought of since I saw an article online that she just got engaged). Carrie's engaged, she's planning to get married, and then an angel {named Gabriel} comes to her and says, "You're gonna have a baby." Okay, that's a surprise. Especially since Mary (I can't speak for Carrie, so we'll put Mary back in here) hasn't been with Joseph yet. Mary even says to Gabriel, "How can this be true?" Guess what Gabriel says...I love it... "Nothing is impossible with God."

So Mary is pregnant and then it's time for her to have the baby. The crazy thing is that even though the baby she's carrying is Jesus Christ, she probably still feels him kick. Still gets heart burn and stretch marks and Braxton Hicks contractions. She's just like one of us!!  But when it's time for her to deliver, there's nowhere to go. So the King of Kings, the Son of God, is born in the lowliest of places. A barn.

I recently read a book by Joshua Harris called "Dug Down Deep." One of the chapters that I easily remember was titled, "God With a Belly-Button." That was Jesus. And that brings me back to the song...

Mary did you know/That your baby boy/will one day walk on water
Mary 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?
Mary did you know/That your baby boy/will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know/That you baby boy/has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby
You've kissed the face of God.

Shivers. This baby that Mary had, just like a newborn baby we have all held, will deliver us. He is the son of God. Yet he is also the son of Mary. He is her baby boy.

For all of us who have special children.... whether emotionally needy, medically needy, physically needy.... all of us who've ever wondered, "Why me? Why in the world did God choose me to be the mother/guardian to __________________?" It reminds me of God choosing Mary.

He chose her for the greatest purpose...to be the mother of Jesus. And yet He also chooses us for other great purposes.... to be the mother of.... Gabe... Jack... Mikan.... Gavin... Isaiah... Matthew.... Laneah.....Ava.... Marissa.... Faith.....Monty.... just to name a few.

What a great honor and privelige when we think of it this way. These are HIS children. Yet he entrusts them to us. They're his...but they're ours. And just as Mary carried him, birthed him, raised him, and ultimately gave him up, that's what we're called to do.

Imagine how hard it must have been for Mary to watch Jesus, her baby boy, being crucified. This was the same baby she felt kicking in her tummy. The same baby she gave birth to in the barn. The same little boy who learned to walk, learned to build, grew up into a strong handsome man. Imagine how she must have felt knowing that she had to give him up. That he had a greater purpose... and that it was God's plan for him to die. Can't you just feel her pain, as a fellow mother?

I'm not trying to insinuate that we need to give up our children early or that they're going to die. But when it is time for them to return to Heaven, for no one is guaranteed even tomorrow, we can know that we did our very best and were trustworthy with these precious gifts that we were entrusted.

Thank you, Mary, for teaching me an important lesson this Christmas season, and thank you for being the perfect example of the most giving, loving mother there was.