When I was younger, I thought that God’s plan for Mary was the very best calling for any woman who has ever lived and that nothing else could ever be as special as being Jesus’ mother. At the root of these thoughts lay the deep desire to do great things for God.
Last year, as I was listening to the Christmas song “Breath of Heaven”, which speaks of the Nativity from Mary’s imagined perspective, I gained fresh insight. As Mark 3:35 says, “For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” Only one woman was called to be Christ’s literal mother, but each and every believer, in a very special way, carries Christ within them. He dwells in their heart.
Just like Mary, we wonder what we’ve done that the Father has chosen us to bear the image of His Son. We wonder if wiser people could have taken our place, and yet we offer all we are to His plan.
As Mary did, may each of us strive to surrender entirely to the Lord and say “Behold, the …servant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to Your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Luke 1:45 NKJV
“Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
