“Greetings, favored Woman! The Lord is with you.”
I wonder what was Mary’s first thoughts to such a strange greeting. She was just an ordinary girl, planning a wedding. Her dreams were simply to marry Joe, start a family, and live a quiet life. Giving birth to the Messiah was not on her bucket list.
But when confronted with such an unimaginable opportunity, her response was not one of doubt, or false humility, or refusal but simply logistics. “How will this happen?”
I wonder if Mary realized the cost of her yes -almost loosing her fiancé, shunned by her community, giving birth in a manager. I wonder if there were times when Mary wished someone else had been chosen.
But I also wonder what it was like to carry the presence of the Lord in such a tangible way. I wonder what it felt like to feel the Messiah’s first kick, his heartbeat next to yours, to feel His life within you. I wonder if there were times when Mary couldn’t imagined NOT being chosen?
You know, in a way, we are all Marys – chosen to carry the Presence of The Lord as we sojourn in this life. We are all chosen to feel his heartbeat next to ours, feel His presence within us.
Like He did with Mary, God has hijacked our small plans for an ordinary life and has given us an extraordinary mission – heal the sick, feed the poor, love the unlovable, preach the Good News.
And our response should be like Mary’s “Let’s go, just show me how.”
I remember a time when God gave me an unimaginable opportunity. My friends said, “Let’s provide a community of fifty families a turkey and groceries for Thanksgiving.” I remember laughing and thinking, how?
But by God’s generosity we did and two years later, we provided groceries and turkeys to over 150 families. And God is saying one day we will do this for one thousand families. Like Mary, I’m just saying, “Okay God, just show me how.”
What is God calling you to do today?
Two thousand years ago, a young ordinary girl was asked to give birth to the Savior of the world. Her yes, empowers our yes! Her yes emboldens our yes!
See the Lord smiling over you. Hear His voice saying, “Greetings Favored sons and daughters. The Lord is with you and I want to partner with you to do the unimaginable. Let’s roll.”
“Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.””
Luke 1:28, 30-34 NLT