At Christmas, I’m always drawn to the story of Mary. Imagine being fourteen or fifteen, the age most historians think Mary was, betrothed to a man arranged by your parents, and suddenly an angelic being appears in front of you. Said angel tells you are going to be a mother! What would you do?
I’d be dumbstruck. The overwhelming nature of the idea would render me speechless. I think of teens I know who would find the entire idea unbelievable. I can hear them now, “Say what?”
Scripture tells us (Luke 1:26-38) that Mary was greatly troubled when the angel spoke and called her favored one. But the angel reassured her, telling her not to be afraid, because she had found favor with God. Would the teens you know stand there? Or would they run away terrified?
The angel goes on, telling Mary of the Son she will bear, His name, and how he will be great and called the Son of the most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will have no end. That’s heavy material to lay on a young girl.
In her innocence, Mary knew enough about how things happened to question the angel. “How can this be? I am a virgin.”
The angel told her what would follow. The Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her. I think at that point I would be shaking in my shoes.
Yet, Mary was so in tune with her Lord that she merely said, “Behold I am a servant of the Lord. Let it be to me as you have declared.”
I’m not Mary. But I would love to be so prepared to serve God and follow His will for me that I merely step out on faith without question. I’m more of a Moses, who said, “Send Aaron, my brother.” Or Jonah, who thought the Ninevites didn’t deserve another chance, and ran away from God, only to be swallowed by a great fish.
But that isn’t what Mary did. She humbly said yes. She didn’t question the path God had chosen for her. She became the mother of the Savior of the world.
Think where we’d be if Mary had said, “No.”
Patricia Lee is a published author, having written since she first learned what words could do at the age of six. She holds a BA in journalism from the University of Oregon. Articles to her credit have appeared in Moody Monthly, Power for Living, Expecting and Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse as well as in two anthologies— Cup of Comfort Bible Promises and In the Company of Angels. She is part of a team of bloggers who submit short devotionals for FaithHappenings.com.
Patricia is a member of the Oregon Christian Writers and of American Christian Fiction Writers. She and her husband have two adult children and live in the Pacific Northwest with two sleepy cats.
The 4th book in Patricia’s Mended Hearts series released August 1, 2020.
All Eily McKintrick needed was an onion.
Across the fence an entire garden waits, but her brusque and unfriendly neighbor Marshall Frye doesn’t want to trade for the needed vegetable. Annoyed, Eily crawls through the fence to borrow the onion anyway, risking the wrath of the contrary man at the property line. If she’s caught.
Marshall would only be too happy to gift the widow with an onion, if it weren’t for her choice of friends. She spends time with Hillary Shepherd, a determined divorcée with her sights set on him. After his wife died, he retired early as a high school principal to live a contented solitary life growing vegetables for the local food banks. But when he finds Eily on her knees in his garden, the ensuing adventure is more trouble than either are prepared to handle.
Will Eily and Marshall find love for a second time? And what will Hillary do?
