Serve Others

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“And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” (Luke 1:28)

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Of the many pictures of Mary and baby Jesus I’ve seen through the years, this one is my favorite.

Her whole face is not shown, but those eyes are so expressive, you can almost see into her soul, and yet there still is that air of mystery about her.

Mary was defined as a virgin (one who has not been with a man yet) and fair. The word fair has many meanings –just is one of them—however, let’s share this one from the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary: 1: pleasing to the eye or mind especially because of FRESH, charming, or flawless quality. Another meaning is: not dark. Origin of FAIR: Middle English fager, fair, from Old English fæger; akin to Old High German fagar: beautiful. So, we can assume then that she was not only nice to look at, but light of skin and beautiful. (Source: here)

The prophecies regarding the most important woman in Mankind call her thus. We also learn a lot about Mary by reading the account of the Annunciation from the book of Luke. We learn about her obedience and humility, and of her desire to serve the Lord, no matter what might happen to her. We know that she was pure and innocent, since she was chosen by the Lord to carry His Son.

“And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”         (Luke 1:38)

When I look at this picture I see a young mother, holding the most precious Baby in all of history. Does she wonder, as so many of us first mothers do, if she’s up for the job of raising a baby? Or does she worry about how will she protect and teach this little Son of God?

Since she kept all the things about the Lord to herself, we don’t know much about how He was raised, or many special events of His childhood. We can only conjecture and wonder. But we know that she was, like Joseph, of royal lineage. That’s how Jesus through His mortal mother was heir to the throne of David.

She was 'highly favoured' among all the women that had lived until her time, and all the ones that came after that. She was set apart to be His mother, a wonderful blessing!

I hope I can meet this remarkable woman some day, and have the chance to thank her for being my Savior’s mother, nurturer, friend and possibly confidant.

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Wednesday, 22 December, please click here.