From Mary To Mom, Lessons in Motherhood

From Mary to Mom, Lessons in Motherhood

 

Philippians 1: 2-3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God upon every remembrance of you.

 

Author Tenneva Jordan once quipped, " A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." That kind of unselfishness is rarely found outside the boundaries of motherhood within this world. The world reinforces greed and self-centered behaviors. It rewards egocentricity and a me-first mentality. But not moms. Motherhood not only bears the child into the world but it also births the mother a person who did not exist prior to childbirth. As a man, I am limited in even grasping the depth of which I speak, a fact friends of mine who are mothers are all too willing to point out.

 

So let us pause this Mother's Day to look at the mother of our Lord and Savior and see the qualities inherent in her motherhood. First of all, Mary was faithful above everything else. Let's remember the circumstances upon which she found out she was to give birth to the son of God. She was a 14 year old girl. While she was betrothed to Joseph, she was not married. She is visited by an angel of the Lord who brings her this revelation:

 

"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!" Luke 1: 30-33 (NLT)

 

Favor with God? How many 14 year old girls would look upon this pronouncement favorably? Her entire plans for her life are seemingly devastated. She is going to look like she had been promiscuous. Her reputation would be destroyed. What would Joseph think of her? Who would believe her that an angel from God told her that the Holy Spirit would impregnate her? But here was the response from Mary:

 

Mary responded, "I am the Lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true." And then the angel left her. Luke 1: 38 (NLT)

 

That is true faith. It is the kind of faith God wants all of us to develop. The faith that doesn't care what the world might say. The kind of faith that measures everything up to the word received from God. Was Mary scared? No doubt what 14 year old girl in this situation wouldn't be? But she knew that God was bigger and as she said, she was His servant. Her faith knew the God she served.