Three Cheers for Mary!

Three Cheers for Mary…. Eight Lessons from a Virgin Teen

Hello, Friends!

I would not win any awards this year for Christmas decorating, or Christmas baking, or Christmas knocking-out-the-list-early planning. However, those are not the contests I’ve entered on the last Christmas of this decade. I’m all in for the lessons-learned-from-Mary contest though.

How about you?

This Christmas season, I want to be present in the moment, to enjoy the experiences and the people God has placed in my life. What a blessing each one is! Remembering fondly the people no longer with us, the celebrations of the past, but not staying stuck there, my desire is to soak up the blessings of NOW. There are so many!

I’ve been slightly fixated on Mary the last few days after reading the passage in Luke 1: 26-38. I’m sure the fact that I’m a Grammie to two beautiful teenage granddaughters has definitely had an influence on my recent obsession. Those two lovelies have taught us many lessons.

What a blessing to the world a teenage virgin can be!

Eight Lessons from Mary, Mother of Baby Jesus

Mary’s sweet obedience really encouraged me, and I hope it does you, too. I prayed for the Father to help me learn from her, and here is what I’m thinking in no particular order of importance……

One…. God used a country girl.

Mary didn’t live in Jerusalem, the city of God, where the temple was located and where the “important” people lived. Instead, God chose a girl from Nazareth, an insignificant place that didn’t have a great reputation. I imagine it might have been in the “flyover country” of “flyover country.”

The place we live? It is the perfect location for God to use us!

Two….God used a young person.

Age apparently doesn’t mean a thing to God. Isn’t that encouraging?

Elizabeth was in her old age when she became pregnant with John the Baptist, the man who set the stage for Christ’s coming. Mary was a young teenager when she was chosen to be the vehicle for the birth of the Messiah.

We are never too old or too young to be used by our DAD!

Three….God used a commoner.

Have you watched The Crown on Netflix? I love everything British, and this series had it all! Elizabeth really had no desire to be Queen, but it was her destiny and she had no choice in the matter.

Sidebar: Apparently, she enjoys it now since she still hasn’t passed the torch.

Mary wasn’t royalty of any kind, but that didn’t matter to God. He chose a girl who appeared to be just a common everyday person-God knew her heart though, didn’t he? She was a princess through and through.

And so are you if Jesus is your Savior! We are daughters of the King!

Four….God had a special task for Mary.

Understatement, right?

If God had a special task for Mary, what job does he have for you and me? Thank goodness, he won’t be asking us to birth his Son and then witness his death at the hands of the very people He came to save. Praise the Lord, that job is FINISHED.

He is asking us to do something though. As we LOVE GOD and LOVE OTHERS, action of some kind is required.

Five…Mary’s first response wasn’t “what will people think?”

Mary didn’t canvas her people for opinions. She apparently didn’t ponder what people would think of her when the angel appeared.

Yeeks! That one really stings for me! As a two on the enneagram, I can be WAY too concerned about other people’s opinions and become a raging people pleaser.

Apparently, this wasn’t an issue for Mary!

Perhaps you are thinking, if an angel appeared to me, I’d definitely do what was asked. But would you really?

Why does it take an angel appearance to deserve our doing the hard thing, the out of the box thing, the brave thing?

(read more about the enneagram here: https://avintagefarmwife.com/reflections-worked-2017/)

Six…Mary didn’t know all the details before she accepted the task.

She did ask how this could happen since she was a virgin, but she didn’t ask for a playbook or an agenda.

Her willingness to take a giant step of obedience without being equipped or having everything in place is such an encouragement for me. We don’t have to plan every detail before we start something! Turning loose of CONTROL of things and letting God be in charge of the outcomes equals SO MUCH FREEDOM!

As someone who has a tendency to just jump into new things, this is like a big hug from my FATHER for me. How about you?

Seven….Her obedience had far-reaching consequences.

Whoa, did it ever!

Our obedience or disobedience has consequences, too. Our words, our reactions, our “yes’s and no’s” really do matter.

This life is serious business, and if we want to live it well, the only way is holding God’s hand every step of the way.

Eight….Mary’s obedience cost her something.

Another understatement. Can you imagine the firestorm around this sweet girl when she began sharing what was happening.. with her Joseph, her parents, his parents, their community?

Holy Cow. Talk about a test for a mother-in-law-to-be!

I hope she and Joseph were surrounded by a big supportive family.

No doubt, the cost was very high, but the blessings were, too! Holding the Savior of the world in your arms, loving him with everything in you, breastfeeding the one who would become the BREAD OF LIFE for the world, smelling his little head, tickling his tiny toes, holding his hand-what an immense PRIVILEGE!

May we not get so hung up on the cost of our own obedience that we miss out on the blessings of that same obedience.

Bible scholars would probably chuckle at my 8 little lessons from Mary, but I am so thankful that God helped me see the treasure and example we have in a teenage virgin girl. Her baby boy turned the world upside down, and he started by being born in a scandalous way.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are so beloved by God. We are important to HIM, no matter where we live or how old we are. He has a purpose for us and our obedience matters.

Let’s be like Mary.

P.S. We would love you to join us on Wednesday mornings for Morning Exhale! Click link to ask to be added…..https://bit.ly/2LHRXqs