Mary, Mary

By Lisa Robertson

Each year, our dining room table is decorated with a beautiful wooden nativity scene.  Lovingly, and with some pride, we place the figures down the center of the table.  Shepherds, camels, sheep and even a duck accompany the kings, donkey and the holy family.   As the years pass, we have added palm trees, straw and candles. 

A few years ago, after a long day, we were getting ready sit down for  Christmas dinner.  I was exhausted, but satisfied that we had finished a memorable celebration.  Water was in the glasses, the candles were lit and dinner was ready.  What a relief!   

As I was bringing food for the table, shrieks came from the dining room. “The table is on fire”- and it was.  Because I didn’t want to ruin the lovely decorated table, I tried to put the fire out by smothering it with a napkin, only to fan the flames.  Finally, my young son picked up a glass of ice water and threw in on the fire, the nativity set, and the food.

We did eat that Christmas night, but the food was cold, the tablecloth off and a the table was reset.  My lasting memory of that night is that Mary was singed by the fire and still smells a little like smoke.

Mary is a role model for me and here is why-

This was an ordinary day.  Mary had chores to do, meals to prepare and a life to live.  When the sun rose that morning, she had no indication that this was a day that would change her life, a day that would change all of history.

God had an extraordinary day planned for Mary and He sent the angel Gabriel to tell her.  “Don’t be afraid, Mary” is the opening greeting.  Throughout the Bible, whenever an angel meets with people, the opening greeting is always “Do not be afraid”.   He continues  “for God has decided to bless you.”

“Wow!  God has decided to bless me?”  may have been Mary’s first thought.  If an angel came to you with a message like that, what would you expect?  Health, happiness, wealth, perfect children?  Mary might have imagined some of those same blessings. 

But God had a magnificent plan.  “You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus.  He will be great and called the Son of the Most High…and His kingdom will never end.”  In her wildest dreams, I don’t think that was the blessing that Mary was expecting.  

As a mother of four daughters, I'm not certain that this is a blessing that my girls would want.   

God chose Mary for many reasons.  Shock, confusion and maybe fear may have been her initial response, but Mary was quick to embrace God’s plan for her.  “ I am the Lord’s servant may everything you have said to me come true.”  Mary saw herself first as the Lord’s servant, willing to do what He asked of her.  She was not more concerned about what her parents might think or even her friends.  Mary’s confidence was in her knowledge of God and His perfect love for her. 

Like Mary, God has a wonderful plan for each one of us.  His plan can be slowly revealed to us as we follow Him, or it can jump into our lives in an instant.   God’s plan for Mary was shocking, inconvenient and beyond all that she could ask or imagine.  His plan for you could evoke some of these same emotions.

God planted His plan in Mary’s life.  Over time, it developed and matured.  During the following months she probably got used to it.  The angel’s parting words to her were, “For nothing is impossible with God.”  Luke 1:37.

When I hold my scarred Mary, those same words are written, by me, underneath her base.  Mary was willing, trusting and adventurous in her walk with God.  She wanted all that He had for her and risked her reputation and future because she trusted God.  I want to be more like Mary.