saying yes to God...

i love the christmas song "mary did you know"...the lyrics are so poignant and powerful::


"Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

The blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb.

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I am."


how very many things mary could not have known...i think we assume that the people in the testimonies contained in the bible knew the whole story that we know...but i am sure that, like us, they only knew a very small bit of what GOD was doing...mary knew she had a visitation...she knew this child was like no other...but she could not have fully known all that it would cost her to say "yes" to GOD...

my favorite story from the christmas account comes when they take JESUS to the temple...and they encounter a man named simeon...i love simeon...here's the story::


LUKE 2: 22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”[b]), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”[c]
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss[d] your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”


i marvel that simeon was able to recognize JESUS as the promised child in the large crowds and in the number of children he must have seen come through the temple in his time of waiting...and i wonder what mary thought of his words, "and a sword will pierce your own soul, too."

i wonder if mary remembered those words as she watched the horrific death of her son by crucifiction...i am not a mother, but i cannot imagine the agony of that experience to a mother's heart...i wonder if mary every doubted...if she ever told GOD, "this isn't what i thought i was signing up for."

she couldn't have known all it would mean to say "yes" to GOD in that moment when the angel appeared to her and told her things too impossible to be true...i wonder if we would say "yes" to GOD given the same opportunity...

mary, did you know...did she...do we...