“Mary said to the angel, “How can this be?” -Luke 1:34
After the shepherds arrive and share with the new parents the angelic message they received, Mary ponders. It’s striking to me that her response is not rejoicing but reflection. She is beginning to understand the complexity of how can this be.
When Joseph and Mary arrive at the Temple and dedicate Jesus, I wonder if her ponderings from those first nights of motherhood came back. Simeon’s words “a sword will pierce your own soul.” More information for Mary to hold; an ever sharpening picture of how can this be.
As she raised Jesus and bore witness to his growth, maturing and development, I wonder how often she thought to herself: how can this be?
But we know in our own lives, how this can be. We know how things grow, change, evolve. How there is bud then bloom and then burial. It’s through so many small things. Little gifts, lessons, tasks and moments that all contributed to Mary’s participation in the big thing. Dishes washed, tunics mended, loaf after loaf shaped and baked. Conversations about the mundane and the significant. Sleepless nights of worry. All part of the ministry and reality of how this can be.
God, in my faithfulness in the small things may I continue to trust that the effect will be for your glory. Amen
Use the journal included in the May Comfort Kit as a place to reflect on today’s Comfort reading.
some comfort and joy 