Mary’s Messy Miracle is Ours

As I pen these words to y’all, one of my favorite Christmas songs is playing in the background. The words of “Mary, Did You Know?” were penned by Mark Lowry, the music written by Buddy Greene.  Throughout the song, Jesus’ mother is asked a myriad of somber questions that never fail to grip me from the first searching query to the last.  “Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?” “Did you know your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?” “Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new? “Did you know the child that you delivered has come to deliver you?” I’m usually crying by the time Mary is asked about this baby who would give sight to the blind and calm raging storms but if not, the last probe leaves me totally undone. “Mary, did you know the child you’re holding is the Great I Am?”

It has begun. The shopping, the decorating, and the cooking that signals the Christmas season, but this is what it’s all about. Like all of the other Christmases we’ve shared here at All Things Southern, I long to speak words that will help us grasp everything that is holy about this season and hold it tightly to our chests but this year I find myself filled with an even great urgency.  You and I will have very few visits together here on the porch before the whirlwind season comes and goes.

Sometimes I wonder if our lives with Christ don’t follow much the same pattern as Mary’s. We receive the seed of Christ in our hearts and it is sweet. So sweet. He is our “safe” little miracle from God but He must outgrow our little mangers just as He did his mother’s. Jesus became Someone Mary couldn’t protect, manage, or control. God wants to bring us to that same place, for Jesus in us to grow up and be fully formed until we can’t help but share Him with the world.

Hugs,
Shellie