Category: Devotionals

This is the last day of these Advent devotionals for 2012. For us, Advent has ended. The joy of Christmas is at hand.

When I first began organizing these thoughts and listing the emotions of Mary, my plan was to have them crescendo and end on the note of joy. But as God would have it, my plan changed. There was one more emotion Mary experienced.

Mary was…thankful.

For nine months, Jesus’ mother had participated in an experience no other person in the world has ever had. Within Mary’s virgin womb, the Son of God had grown arms, legs, lungs. He had developed a beating heart. He passed safely from the womb, through the birth canal and into the arms of his mother.

Mary was thankful for the honor of being the only person to have this intimate experience with God’s Son. She appreciated a husband who stayed by her side. She thanked God for granting her strength for that long trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Her heart overflowed with gratitude for her safe labor and delivery. And now she looked to God with praise for the wonder of the Son in cuddled in her lap.

As you gather around your tree and begin to unwrap your gifts, pause. Take a moment to express thanks to your Heavenly Father for the gift of His Son and for all the ways He has blessed you in 2012.

Sing as David did in Psalm 100:4-5:

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving;

go into his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and bless his name.

For the Lord is good.

His unfailing love continues forever,

and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

“Joy to the World! The Lord is come!” Advent is a time for introspection and penitence, preparing believers for the excitement of Jesus’ arrival at Christmas. The contrast between the sorrow of our sin and joy of a Savior is like night turning into dawn.

Several years ago I had surgery to remove a parathyroid gland. The symptoms that led to the surgery involved rising calcium levels in my blood. I felt like two fingers were constantly pressing on my throat, creating a choking sensation. In addition, tremors shook my body from head to toe. The surgeon warned me that, because the parathyroid glands are right next to the vocal chords, the surgery could cause me to lose my voice.

I still remember waking up in the recovery area. The most amazing sensation was one of peace. After months of vigorous tremors, my body was at rest! And when the doctor later allowed me to try speaking, I learned that I still had a voice. I could talk!  My “night” had turned to dawn.  I added joy and praise to the mix.

Mary passed a long night in labor. Exhausted she lay back on the straw to rest. Her infant son lay safe in the manger. And Mary? As the sun rose the next morning, her heart overflowed with…joy.

By the time you read this, my family will have already celebrated Christmas. Packages will be torn open. Too much food will have been consumed. Hugs and laughter will warm the room. Holiday joy will fill our hearts. As you prepare to celebrate with your family, take a moment today to remember those for whom this holy day will be marked with tears. The families of the twenty schoolchildren and their teachers who died in Connecticut are still in mourning. Pray that God’s Spirit will bring them comfort and, yes, even joy.

Advent is a time of preparation not only for the Lord’s coming but for all our relatives’ coming.  Family gatherings are an important ingredient of any holiday celebration.

As our family grew and as my brothers and I brought spouses into the mix, my single brother Richard often found there was “no room for him at the inn.” At family gatherings over the 4th of July, for example, my husband and I would enjoy the guest room at my parents’ home. Another brother and his wife occupied the screened-in porch. But Richard? With no space left inside the house, he would find himself assigned to a small cot in the garage. Old bicycle tires and fishing poles hung from the rafters. Piles of tools lined the walls. Mosquitoes buzzed during the night. Moths fluttered around the bare light bulb. The atmosphere was less than homey. I am grateful for Richard’s patience and flexibility in accepting our family’s equivalent of the “stable.”

When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, they too found the family homestead packed with relatives. The Jewish culture, after all, values hospitality. The guest room was already occupied by Joseph’s more senior relatives, and the young mother found herself occupying the lower levels of the home where the animals hung out. Her husband’s family was nearby, but as she faced those final days of her first pregnancy, Mary must have longed for the comforting presence of her own mother. Worse, Mary’s womb began to contract, indicating that she was moving into labor. Not here! Not now! But, yes, she was going to deliver that baby there and then.

With less than perfect accommodations, Mary felt…vulnerable.

Childbirth in ancient times was fraught with danger. Almost a third of all infants died at birth or shortly thereafter. The maternal mortality rate was also high due to lack of sanitation and the likelihood of infection. And in addition to those factors, Mary faced a high-risk pregnancy: Satan was ready to do anything to keep this child from being born.

When do we feel most vulnerable? When we are far from our comfort zone. When we are in exhausted or in pain. When we are alone. When things are beyond our control. That is the time when we need to reread Matthew 8:23-27 and remember that, “Even the winds and waves obey Him!” No matter what storm we face, our God is still in control.

Advent is quickly advancing toward Christmas. Thanks for coming back to read these brief devotionals based on Mary’s emotions during the very first Advent season.

Shortly after my husband asked me to marry him, we wanted to share our good news with my family. The news might have been good but our timing was not! My mother had just walked in after an ten-hour day of supervising the church’s annual strawberry festival. Her hair was limp from the heat of the kitchen, her apron was covered with berry stains, her sugar-splattered shoes stuck to the linoleum floor as she walked from the kitchen to the living room. Collapsing in a soft chair, she groaned with exhaustion.

Then Gene made our exciting announcement. My mother, thinking of all the work of planning a wedding, sank deeper into the chair and moaned, “I’ll give you $1000 if you elope!”

Of course she was jesting. At least I hope she was. But when one is already tired, the idea of facing yet another major obstacle can push us beyond fatigue to burn out.

Mary, almost nine months pregnant, weary from long nights with little sleep, next learned from Joseph that they would have to uproot from Nazareth and travel 80 miles to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census. No, it couldn’t wait until after the baby was born. Mary must have felt…overwhelmed.

Traditional artists paint pictures of the Holy Family traveling to the City of David. Often Mary is seated demurely on a donkey, with Joseph leading the way. But imagine how strenuous and uncomfortable riding on such an animal would be for a woman nearing the end of her pregnancy. Donkeys can be skittish and suddenly dash this way and that. The animal’s stiff coarse hair would be scratchy. If Mary’s back did not ache already with the weight of the baby, we can be certain it protested after a long ride on a donkey. But walking was the other likely alternative, an exhausting option that would require over four days of travel.

And arriving in Bethlehem, no crowd waved palm branches to welcome Mary as they did thirty years later when her Son rode into the city. All Mary and Joseph saw were dirty, dusty, crowded streets. It was all more than most of us could handle.

Have you ever come to the end of your resources? Have you felt like you simply could not go on? Reread Isaiah 40:29-31 today: “He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up. But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength.”