While I had a busy day at work yesterday, I found my thoughts turned often to Mary, also known as Miriam & Maria, the mother of Yeshua / Jesus the Christ. What was it like for her? What was it like to hear the angel's message? What was it like to go through nine long months of pregnancy ... wondering? What was is like in the days just before delivering the One who will deliver all?
I have no doubts Mary was quite human, though many worldwide worship her with near-goddess - or even fully goddess - reverence. Queen of Heaven. Mother of God. But in the beginning, she was no greater than you or I.
What was it like for her?
To be called to do something by God is both humbling and awe-inspiring. There is this rush that Wow! I can do something great, but there is also the overwhelming questions: Why me? Why now? Why in this way?
I have never had a pregnancy that lasted to full term, but I have seen many women struggling in the last trimester leading up to the birth. There are backaches, swollen ankles and feet, bloating and an underlying desire to "get it over with" near the very end. I doubt humanity has changed that much in over two-thousand years and Mary likely went through the same. Or did she?
There are some that believe that because she carried God's Son that there was no discomfort, there was no pain in the birthing process, there was only the wonder of God surrounding her. I tend to think differently. She was human. Yeshua came as fully-human too. I am certain that which most women experience in pregnancy, Mary did also.
Then there came the time to travel. Why then of all times?!? As she packed her clothes and the items she needed following the delivery, she did not slide into a comfortable heated car seat after promising her mother that she'll call when she arrived. She had to ride upon a lurching donkey. Her mother and family were far away - several days travel - and there was no means to contact them for comfort when her time came. She must have been terrified.
Yet, I am sure there was also this element of Trust. God started this. God will see her through. It did not mean that there was not worry and fear, it just meant that she would be able to get through it. Like we can too with that same Trust.
At the delivery there was pain and blood, as there is in all human births. Unlike the days of my birth, I have a feeling Joseph wasn't "waiting outside" during the delivery. I believe he was there, holding her hand, mopping her sweating brow, stroking back her matted hair, giving her the strength and courage to get through the delivery. There was Love radiating from them as Yeshua drew his first shaky breath of our air and screamed protest as any newborn child fresh from a mother's womb would do.
Then, once cleaned up and wrapped in swaddling clothes to protect the child - items Mary brought with her in preparation for this moment, there was the bond of mother and child. The first time her eyes saw Him; the first moment she held Him in her arms.
There would be cries of hunger, dirty diapers and scraped knees, seeing him through illness, education and play, disagreements as a teenager, and letting her child grow into a man, but in that first moment, there was finally Peace.
I have no doubts Mary was quite human, though many worldwide worship her with near-goddess - or even fully goddess - reverence. Queen of Heaven. Mother of God. But in the beginning, she was no greater than you or I.
What was it like for her?
To be called to do something by God is both humbling and awe-inspiring. There is this rush that Wow! I can do something great, but there is also the overwhelming questions: Why me? Why now? Why in this way?
I have never had a pregnancy that lasted to full term, but I have seen many women struggling in the last trimester leading up to the birth. There are backaches, swollen ankles and feet, bloating and an underlying desire to "get it over with" near the very end. I doubt humanity has changed that much in over two-thousand years and Mary likely went through the same. Or did she?
There are some that believe that because she carried God's Son that there was no discomfort, there was no pain in the birthing process, there was only the wonder of God surrounding her. I tend to think differently. She was human. Yeshua came as fully-human too. I am certain that which most women experience in pregnancy, Mary did also.
Then there came the time to travel. Why then of all times?!? As she packed her clothes and the items she needed following the delivery, she did not slide into a comfortable heated car seat after promising her mother that she'll call when she arrived. She had to ride upon a lurching donkey. Her mother and family were far away - several days travel - and there was no means to contact them for comfort when her time came. She must have been terrified.
Yet, I am sure there was also this element of Trust. God started this. God will see her through. It did not mean that there was not worry and fear, it just meant that she would be able to get through it. Like we can too with that same Trust.
At the delivery there was pain and blood, as there is in all human births. Unlike the days of my birth, I have a feeling Joseph wasn't "waiting outside" during the delivery. I believe he was there, holding her hand, mopping her sweating brow, stroking back her matted hair, giving her the strength and courage to get through the delivery. There was Love radiating from them as Yeshua drew his first shaky breath of our air and screamed protest as any newborn child fresh from a mother's womb would do.
Then, once cleaned up and wrapped in swaddling clothes to protect the child - items Mary brought with her in preparation for this moment, there was the bond of mother and child. The first time her eyes saw Him; the first moment she held Him in her arms.
There would be cries of hunger, dirty diapers and scraped knees, seeing him through illness, education and play, disagreements as a teenager, and letting her child grow into a man, but in that first moment, there was finally Peace.
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