Hush…. close your eyes… listen… remember. Can’t you feel that soft, gentle breath of your newborn …. on your neck … as they slumbered? Or wait … stop for a minute. Can’t you feel the trust on your hand as your foster child first slipped their little hand into yours? Inexpressible. Irreplaceable. To be locked up in the heart for safe keeping.
Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, in a small town, a mom was given a job to fulfill that no one had ever been asked to do, or would ever be asked to do again. Although we cannot even come close to understanding the experiences of Mary, the mother of Jesus, she was still a mom. A normal, human mom … who handled an incredibly challenging, joyful, painful and lonely job … with grace and wisdom. We have much to learn. So let’s go …
Come! Travel with me on the rough uncomfortable back of a donkey … along a dusty road … to the hill country of Judea. There! There it is! A small, simple home … hidden in the hills. S-h-h-h! Let’s peak in the window … Oh, look! There’s two women talking and laughing! Have you ever seen such joy?
There … away from the eyes of the rest of the world … Mary and her cousin Elizabeth were able to talk about the callings God had placed on their lives and the fulfillment of God’s promises. Two pregnant women … realizing that God had incredible plans for them and their little ones … Mary’s heart overflowed in song, and she worshipped. Her voice could be heard as she softly lifted up her Lord, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…. for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is His name.” (Luke 1:46, 47, 49) Before Jesus was born, Mary was lifting up the Name of the Lord in adoration.
Mary lifted Him up in worship.
Time to move on. We’ve rested awhile in Nazareth … and we need to hurry. Something is going on in Bethlehem! Oh! Over there! Wait… in a barn? Do you see that faint light coming out between the boards? Yes. That’s it. Let’s wait to see what happens …
And so the Almighty, Holy, Omnipotent God came to live among us … in the form of His Son, Jesus. Mary gathered Him to her heart … and felt that soft, human breath on her neck. Although she knew she was holding God’s Son, she was still momma. Gently … oh so gently … she wrapped him up … in cloths. She had been called to care for this perfect, little One. And she intended to do it well. Her mother heart … her nurturing, tender heart … cared for Him so carefully.
Mary wrapped Him up carefully.
Do you hear what I hear? What was that? It sounded almost heavenly! It’s voices … coming from far away… giving glory to God in the highest. Incredible. Something beyond our imagination is going on here. Follow me quietly. Sh-h-h … Oh, look! Are those shepherds going into the barn?
Yes, it was shepherds. Shepherds who had no idea as they started their shift that night, that they would be seeing their Messiah before morning. What good news they had to share … and share they did! Everyone was amazed. And momma Mary … she watched … and thought … and “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19) Some of her dearest moments with her Son were too priceless to be spoken. So she wrapped them up … and kept them safe in her heart.
Mary treasured up in her heart.
You and I have to walk quickly. Gather your robe and tighten your belt. We have over thirty years to cover … as we follow the Son of God. We’ll be at a wedding and a funeral. Lepers will be made whole and the blind will see. The hungry will be fed and the thirsty will drink. Crowds will gather and then He’ll slip away to be alone. Thousands will be taught and thousands will reject. Tears will slip down His face … the face that will be blindfolded as He’s beaten. We’ll see Him carry His cross … and then watch as nails are driven into His hands and feet. He’ll then be lifted up and His cross will be dropped into a hole in the ground, the spikes tearing at the hands that healed.
Close by … we’ll see momma Mary. Standing. Not screaming. Not fighting with the soldiers. Standing. Only a yielded heart could stand. Mary had grasped that He did not belong to her. As the treasures had gathered in her heart over the years, she had seen that God’s plan for His life was far beyond what she could control … And yes, far beyond what she could hope or imagine. Standing … she yielded Him up.
Mary yielded Him up.
My dear, sweet mommas … you and I are called to nothing less. God calls us to worship Him before anything or anyone else. He needs to be the only One on the throne of our hearts in order to be the mother that He longs for us to be. We then need to wrap our little ones up … Yes, we need to nurture, pour into, surround them … swaddle them … with our love and the love of their Heavenly Father. As the moments, days and years race by … we need to reach out and snatch the moments to be treasured … wrap them up … and tuck them away in our hearts.
But, oh, the hard part … We need to yield them up. Yes, yield them up to Him. When a heart is filled with worship … and has nurtured and poured out love in abundance… and is overflowing with wrapped up treasures of God’s faithfulness … then the bigger picture is more visible. The outline of God’s plan and design, although never fully understood, is a little more in focus. The grip loosens … grace and peace fill the heart. And we stand.
Trust remains.
Love your story’s 🙏🏻❤️