Have you ever wondered what Mary was thinking during her months of being pregnant? After all, it wasn’t exactly what she was expecting that day when Gabriel, the angel, suddenly appeared to her and announced she was “highly favored”. What did he mean by this? Then, after being reassured there was no reason for her to be afraid, he told her she was going to have a child and his name would be Jesus, the Son of the Most High. She could have resisted. She could have argued. She could have tried to explain the impossibility of such a thing. BUT – she did not. She simply asked a question, listened to the answer and humbly accepted the pronouncement.
What do you think it was like for Mary during the next 9 months? She already knew her baby’s name. She was able to go to visit Elizabeth and share the first months with this trusted and older relative who was also miraculously pregnant. She found out that an angel visited Joseph, her fiancée, also, and that resolved a great many questions for her, no doubt. In the early morning hours, however, don’t you imagine that she simply had to bring her human and natural questions to God who had chosen her to be the mother of this baby boy. What will he look like? What will his personality be like? Will he walk and talk early or later? Will this be my only child or will God give us more children? Where will he be born? What will his birthday be? While the list of questions could have been the focus for Mary, it seems that it is more likely that her “hymns of praise” and her humble submission to God’s blessing took precedence in her thinking and in her heart.
When big surprises come your way or the unexpected happens, where do you turn your focus? To whom or where do you go?