But Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought of about them often.
Luke 2:19
The Christmas shopping is almost done. You have to go to a couple Christmas parties over the weekend. Help decorate the church during the week. Make cookies for the Cookie exchange. Your going Caroling the day before Christmas Eve. Compile a list of who's coming for Christmas and where their going to stay. It just about makes you want to fall into a sugar cookie mess with tinsel on top huh?
Why is it the most enchanting time of year is the busiest time of year? Especially for us women. No matter if your married or single. You can still feel the holiday pressure. Even as I write this I'm going through a season of learning how to turn to God with my anxiety that has blown up over the last couple months. I knew I was a worry wort but golly. I didn't realize how deep the anxiety reached into my mind and heart.
Let's take a look at Mary for a second. She was a teenager. Newly married and pregnant for the first time. Most of all she carried God's son in her belly. Talk about Stress of the whole world! People through the ages looked forward to the coming of the messiah. And God chose her to be the bearer of good news. She was the very first to know that Jesus was coming. What I don't like is how people make Mary out as an angelic non-human person. She was as human as you and me. She was a young woman full of hopes and dreams. She probably thought she'd live in Nazareth her whole life. Like her family. Everything changed when the angel came that day. And what did Mary do? She trusted God. She laid in His arms and found rest and peace.
I chose to rest in my Fathers arms as well. To take in the enchantment and wonder of Christmas and take them into my heart and celebrate the birth of our Savior. Will you join me?
