Luke 1:46-48 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked with favor on the lowliness of His servant.”
I will admit that I often fall into the trap of the way things “ought to be.” It is easy to bemoan the state of my house, the frustrations of my job, the losses I’ve suffered because things “ought to be” different. But there is prodigious danger in the specter of what “ought to be,” most especially the danger of missing the beauty and grace of what is.
Luke 1:51b-53 …He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
Mary, an unwed, pregnant teen, could have easily bemoaned her circumstances. In the blink of an angel’s visit, her entire world of “ought to be” was shattered. But Mary doesn’t sulk and moan at the life she envisioned, now irrevocably altered. She rejoices and praises God, who “looked with favor on the lowliness of His servant.”
Matt 1:23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
Lord, Thank You for this day and for the birth of Your Son, a gift utterly undeserved and deeply precious. Thank You for loving us, even at our worst, and for subverting our notions of what “ought to be” through the birth of Your Son, our Savior, to an unwed teenage mother, in a stable of all places, with announcement of the good news to lowly shepherds watching their flocks. Help us to see what “ought to be” through the lens of Your love, Your grace, and Your mercy. Draw us closer. Amen.
Isaiah 9:6 For into us a child is born, unto us a son is given….And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Have a blessed day.
My faith, my life, my teaching–it's all a work in progress.