BlessedShembull

After the angel Gabriel told Mary that she was going to be the mother of Jesus, Mary went to her cousin Elizabeth’s house. When Mary got to Elizabeth’s house, the pregnant elderly Elizabeth greeted her, and then Mary burst into a spontaneous song. As part of her song, she sang this: “From now on all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48).

We read that and think, “Of course Mary will be blessed. She gets to be the mother of the Son of God.” But the situation was much different. At this point in Mary’s story, she was a teenager, she was pregnant out of wedlock and she hadn’t told Joseph yet. She could have looked at carrying and raising Jesus like, “Oh no. It’s my burden to bear for God.” But all of the potential world’s opinions—their potential condemnation, all of the details that had to be worked out—didn’t matter. All that mattered to Mary was that she had found favor in God’s eyes. And that was enough for her to have joy in a situation with a million questions and a complicated future. Mary valued God’s opinion and His opinion alone. Father, please make us like Mary. May we stare into a future that’s unknown to us with joy, trusting in Your opinion of us more than anyone else’s as we go forward.