Mary

Up until about a week or 10 days ago, I was feeling fairly frantic. Just like every year, I had a major project that consumed me until early December, and afterwards felt like I was so far behind on my Christmasing. Some years it has really upset me so that I am not at all able to enjoy the pre-Christmasness, and then, next thing I know, it is post-Christmas. Post-Christmas can be sad enough without feeling like you missed out.

But then I realied something. Mary was not stressed out. Ok, Mary didn't have to design, obtain, and send out 140 Christmas cards, or bake interesting things, or come up with inexpensive yet meaningful teacher gifts. She didn't have to clean the whole house at the same time, exhausting herself as she tries to find exactly where the pee smell in her son's bathroom came from. (There are surprisingly LOTS of places where pee can get to). She didn't have to trudge up and down a wet mountain trying to find the perfect tree to kill, plan the perfect dinner, or wonder what to get her 24 year old stepson she hasn't seen in 3 years.

Instead, Mary had a visit from an angel. That sounds glorious, but was probably fairly frightening. She was told she would be pregnant. This is a 14 year old who was engaged. Her fiance would be expected to leave her, she could be stoned, what would become of her?

She pondered what the angel told her. She didn't freak out, ask for advice, eat a cheeseburger. She PONDERED. She said she was the Lord's servant and that what He said would happen.

She took a 50 mile (?) trip to see an older relative who was also impossibly pregnant due to her age. she stayed there for 3 months. Did she have morning sickness on the way back? Or when you are the mother of the Lord are you immune from such things?

She almost certainly had to put up with some ridicule and hatred. Joseph almost left her. I am assuming that she had Godly parents/family who believed her. Joseph required a visit from an angel to believe her.

Then she had to travel when she was even more pregnant. While I was more than twice her age when I was pregnant, I remember a very uncomfortable car trip to San Antonio when I was about 6 months along. I am sure I whined the whole way.

No hospital. No bed, even. Who delivered the baby? Joseph?

And yet Mary pondered.

I decided I could do a little more pondering and a little less of almost everything else.