Meditations Inspired by Thoughts of Mary
I offer the following without commentary. Each piece was shared on Facebook by one of my friends. I've tried to give them credit as well as noting the original author.
Shared by Norma Lebold Miller and Maribeth Beiler
This hit my soul…..
She was "highly favored" but was almost put away by the man she loved the most.
"Highly favored" but she was rejected by every person in Bethlehem.
"Highly Favored" but she laid on the dirt floor of a barn and gave birth to a baby she carried nine months.
"Highly Favored" but in the middle of the night had to leave all she knew and move to a strange town because God said so.
Favor never looks like favor at first. Favor sometimes takes you through frustration, failure, and fear. You want to be favored of God? It may be in darkest night or deepest valley. But there in that place where no one sees you and you feel like no one understands whisper to yourself, "this is only the beginning not the end. This will turn out for my good and His glory. This is because...I'm Favored."
~ Evangelist Brent Carr
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Shared by Merlene Wingard
Sometimes we just don’t fit in.
I don’t mean when someone accidentally forgets to invite us to something
Or a group of friends happen to meet up without us
I mean that kind of not fitting in where you’re surrounded . . . but alone.
You’re tolerated but not celebrated.
You’re used but not welcomed.
You’re in it but not a part of it.
You’re there because it’s where circumstances have put you… but the people would have never chosen you.
And you know it.
And it hurts.
And it feels like there is nothing you can do about it.
Maybe you haven’t been there, but I have.
As I was placing a nativity, I was distracted by a kid needing my help. When I came back, I noticed Mary sitting alone, and I had to wonder if she ever felt that same way.
Was she ever surrounded while actually feeling very left out?
She wouldn’t have fit in with the religious crowd. After all, she was with child before marriage.
I wonder what Joseph’s family thought about her? Her sudden pregnancy, not from Joseph, couldn’t have gone over well. How would they have felt about that?
She wouldn’t have fit in with the other women. She was pregnant and yet had not known a man. How could she have even related to them? And who would have even believed her? What woman wouldn’t have talked behind her back?
She had a baby in a stable?
Not good enough for so many
Her newborn was a threat to the Kingdom?
Too much for most people to handle
People worshipped her son?
Who did she think she was? Surely other mothers couldn’t handle that type of competition.
Where would she have fit in?
I can’t think of anywhere.
Yet,
She found her place holding the Son of GOD close.
She found her place at her son’s, her Savior’s, feet.
She found her place at the foot of the cross.
She found her place with Jesus.
What a beautiful reminder for those of us who might not feel like we fit in nor accepted.
HE not only wants us
HE not only accepts us
HE desires us.
HE loves us.
HE loves you.
Come find your place… it’s with Jesus.
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Shared by Rosanna Brubacker
Biblical manhood according to the Christmas story is:
Silently observing God working powerfully through women.
Learning from women prophesying and proclaiming God’s word.
Listening to and believing the lived experiences of women.
Following the leadership of women towards what has been revealed to them by God alone.
Seeing that God completely flouted the theology of male headship advocated by the current religious culture and being at peace with it.
Choosing to abide by the law of love rather than the law of the land (Deut. 22:20-21).
It is seeing how central women are to the movement of God in the world and not feeling threatened by that reality.
May this become the biblical manhood of the church.
*please note*: Reading the Christmas narrative according to Luke’s gospel in light of the strict patriarchal culture and legal system of the 1st century context is where I drew these reflections as I read.
posted by Miriam Iwashige at
7:52 AM
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