Luke 1:28
28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; [a]blessed are you among women!”
Mary carried Christ within her. For nine months the Son of man grew inside her. What an amazing gift and yet don’t you wonder how she managed it all? Who was this woman? Was she a super mom that instantly had it all under control? What was her life like? Did Mary really know and understand who that Child in her was?
Women have the beautiful gift of carrying life. For nine months they carry a human and do what ever they can to ensure that child is safe within them, so the best thing they have ever done can enter the world and bless it. Every woman expects their child to do great things. Every woman wants to protect that child from pain, humiliation, devastation and cruelty, and not only believe in someway they can, they do everything in their power to do that. Motherhood is a gift. No matter how old or big your child gets you are always attached to them. You are their compass in this world. You are their safe landing spot. You give love unconditionally and so when things get tough, and when things get ugly, that child returns to you, to reset, and try to make sense of it all. You get their displaced anger. You get their plead for reassurance that all will be well. You are their mirror. They see themselves in you. Yes, you have a huge responsibility. You carried a child. Mary carried a Christ child. Surely, she can understand all you carry. And surely you can understand a portion of Mary’s responsibility.
Mary understands what it is like to give birth, try to protect a child, and be able to keep that child safe from the cruelty of the world. She understands what it is like to have to put faith in God, the child’s true Father, to do what is best. She understands when things look rough and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight, that will turn out beautiful. The beauty may come far beyond a tragedy. She understands bullies, unfairness, a misunderstood child, and a child not being seen for the gift they are to the world. She understands assumptions without facts. She also understands forgiveness.
You are not alone in any struggles you have with motherhood. You are not alone in feeling guilt, failure or regret. Mary and millions of women like you have walked the path of motherhood and tried to be perfect for their child. There have been moments where mothers want to walk away because it is all overwhelming or they just feel they are not good enough. In a moment of insane thoughts, a woman can believe she is the only one not getting this right and she is a failure. But there is no right way. There is love and there is doing your best. There is committing to growth. There is, and this is the hardest part, committing to having faith in God and letting go so you can allow your child to grow. Your child will need to experience pain, disappointment, regret, fear, failure and so on. They need to experience all those things you so desperately try to shield them from. Mary’s child had to experience it. Why expect anything less than what Christ experienced? You love your child by letting them fall, get up, figure it out and try again. Without those experiences your child cannot look outside of themselves, cannot self-care and cannot learn to lean on the Christ within them.
The enemy wants you to feel alone in motherhood. He wants to isolate you and make you feel too ashamed to talk to others about how you feel. He doesn’t want mothers comparing notes and realizing they are not alone in this. He wants you to feel guilt and feel like a failure. The enemy tries to pull you away from the presence of God with worry. He wants you to be consumed with fear. If you are consumed with worry and fear, you can’t let go to let your child journey with God. He knows you are the child’s gateway to Christ. If he can shut you down, he believes he has a good chance of shutting your child down. He attacks your child to get to you and he attacks you to get to your child. Can you imagine the attacks he must have thrown Mary’s way? Mary, full of grace, the one the Lord was with, was attacked and struggled. Blessed Mary had to put on her spiritual armor to fight the enemy.
God calls you, like He called Mary, to have faith in Him. He calls you to put on that spiritual armor. You, like Mary, gave birth not just to a child but to a world of possibilities. You gave birth to a child who is called to do God’s business. Mary most likely didn’t fully understand all that was to come, the good and bad, for Jesus. God still handled it without her having to understand everything. You don’t need to see all that is to come for your child, for it to work out. You don’t need to figure out tomorrow. You don’t have to jump into the future now to plan how to protect your child then. You don't need to be perfect. God’s got that. He can turn messy to beautiful. He can turn sorrow to joy. When it gets overwhelming and guilt sets in think of Mary. She gave birth in a manager, couldn’t find her twelve year old for three days and couldn’t prevent Him from ending up on a cross. As bad as that was it turned out better than okay.
There is so much you don't know. But there is so much God does. Sit with God and know He has everything in his hands.
Prayer
Father God,
Thank You for the beautiful gift of children. Thank You for trusting me with the ones you love. Forgive me for forgetting they are Yours and here for a reason. Forgive me for not fully putting them in Your hands and trusting You've got this. Mary surely knew what it felt like not to be able to fully protect her Child. She must have known what it was like to question herself as a human and a mother. She understood the struggle to let go and have faith in You. Help me to understand the love You have for my children. Help me to have faith they will come through difficult times and that I don't need to jump into the future to protect them. May I see them in today, enjoy them in today and love them in today. Mary was not perfect. You don't expect me to be perfect. You chose these children for me. Blessed me with them and have faith in me to parent them. May I understand that and allow you to guide me.
In Jesus' name,
Amen
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