Dear Mary ~
You're in good company as you find yourself reeling from sudden rejection and left stranded to face a momumentally important decision. Consider for a moment your namesake and her bewildered betrothed, Joseph . . .
At the appointed time, Adoni chose toturn the welfare of His one and only beloved son over to the protection and care of an unwed, fourteen year old girl and her fearful and perhaps still suspicious future husband . . .
Young Mary knew she faced the frightening penance of stoning to death for her shameful unwed condition. Joseph knew this as well and faced at least ridicule and rejection for remaining faithful to Mary.
What must Joseph and Mary have thought of God's choice for the birth place of their Messiah? Is it merely coincidence that the Word Made Flesh was established in a place of feeding for skittish, bawling sheep?
What mother's hopes and dreams faded away that Holy Night when Almighty Yahweh, it seemed, was sending forth ~ with not even slightest creature comfort ~ the promised Messiah and King of the World.
Retreat into your own Silent Night, dear Mother-To-Be; and wonder what good this same Wise God is working together through the life He has turned over to you.
With many prayers for a truly Mary's Christmas ~
Having fled for their safety, Joseph's first act as a new father was to receive his helpless babe into rags filthy from days of travel and sweat. Mary, first to warm, comfort, and kiss the face of God, would lay her delicate infant in a manger of dry, prickly hay. Could any young woman have been more pressured to hide or to terminate a pregnancy than a fourteen-year old girl certain to be shunned by her community, family and friends? Had I been Mary's friend, wouldn't I have shunned and slandered her in light of her ridiculous story?
You're in good company as you find yourself reeling from sudden rejection and left stranded to face a momumentally important decision. Consider for a moment your namesake and her bewildered betrothed, Joseph . . .
At the appointed time, Adoni chose toturn the welfare of His one and only beloved son over to the protection and care of an unwed, fourteen year old girl and her fearful and perhaps still suspicious future husband . . .
Young Mary knew she faced the frightening penance of stoning to death for her shameful unwed condition. Joseph knew this as well and faced at least ridicule and rejection for remaining faithful to Mary.
What must Joseph and Mary have thought of God's choice for the birth place of their Messiah? Is it merely coincidence that the Word Made Flesh was established in a place of feeding for skittish, bawling sheep?
What mother's hopes and dreams faded away that Holy Night when Almighty Yahweh, it seemed, was sending forth ~ with not even slightest creature comfort ~ the promised Messiah and King of the World.
Retreat into your own Silent Night, dear Mother-To-Be; and wonder what good this same Wise God is working together through the life He has turned over to you.
With many prayers for a truly Mary's Christmas ~
Having fled for their safety, Joseph's first act as a new father was to receive his helpless babe into rags filthy from days of travel and sweat. Mary, first to warm, comfort, and kiss the face of God, would lay her delicate infant in a manger of dry, prickly hay. Could any young woman have been more pressured to hide or to terminate a pregnancy than a fourteen-year old girl certain to be shunned by her community, family and friends? Had I been Mary's friend, wouldn't I have shunned and slandered her in light of her ridiculous story?
