Why Mary?
Why Mary? Why did God pick her to be the mother of His Son? After all, she wasn't the only virgin in the vicinity. When Mary was confronted with the mind-blowing, earth shattering, overwhelming staggering news that would rock her world, she simply said, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord…”
A handmaid was the lowest term in the scale of servitude. ‘It is one who freely gives oneself up to the will of another.’ God did not pick Mary because she was the only chaste female on the planet but that she was all in whatever the call, whatever the charge and whatever the cost.
I think as a parent we often feel like we are on the lowest rung as we wipe bottoms, clean vomit (the flu recently went through our entire extended family in one week), feed mouths and dress little bodies. Tim Kimmel says in his book, Little House on the Freeway, “It takes courage to invest the excess in others when you could be indulging yourself. Loving takes time and time requires sacrifice….somewhere.”
What did I sacrifice, I mean really? Dave and I made a decision early on that I would stay home and he would work. Not that I am against having a career, but my hours would not have been counducive to parenting. I was at the top of my field as a Critical Care Respiratory Therapist on a transport team that picked up preemie babies from rural areas and airlifted them to our state of the art hospital at Tucson Medical Center. I look at one of my co-workers, who was trained along side of me, and she is now a supervisor in a ground breaking teaching hospital and I am not going to lie sometimes I think, that could have been me. Yes, that could have been my life. But what would my legacy have been?
Mary could not fathom the far-reaching impact of her sacrifice as a mother when she said, I’m all in! God picked you! God picked me to parent five children and I cannot think of ANYTHING else I would have rather done with my time. “Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because they are cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.” Rachel Jancovick
Bring it Home
When you are comparing yourself to another, think of Mary.
When you are thinking, is this all there is, think of Mary.
When you are counting the cost, think of Mary.
Tis the season to ponder all this! Love, Janis and Susan
