When I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t know what to expect. Besides a baby nine months later, I hadn’t really thought about what it might feel like to be pregnant. It wasn’t until about five months in that I felt my baby kick for the first time.
I thought of this passage when it happened: Mary’s Magnificat, a hymn from Jesus’ first home on earth. She learns she’s carrying the Savior that she’d heard prophecies of, the Messiah everyone had been waiting for. She’s in awe of the fact that God would choose her to bring this life into the world and she lifts her praises.
As I placed my hand on my belly, I remembered that my Jesus who gave his life for me, who conquered sin and death, was once just a baby in a woman’s womb, too. Silent. Dependent. And kicking hard.
I had been struggling to enjoy my pregnancy with all the nausea and fatigue I’d been feeling. Starting a family was supposed to be a blessing, but no matter how much I knew that to be true, it was hard to reconcile the truth with my experience. But that first kick gave me a glimpse of how Mary must have felt. A kick of the reality that there was life being formed within me. I started to feel overwhelmed with joy. This baby was a gift God entrusted to me to steward well.
Mary’s song is one that you and I can sing in all circumstances. No matter what your family looks like, related by blood or chosen with care, your family is a reason to magnify the name of the Lord. Family can be messy and painful. On the outside, Mary was just a pregnant unmarried teenager. But God was making her to be more like him, humbling her, showing her that he had much for her to do with the little she had to offer.
What family has God entrusted to you? In what ways can Mary’s song become yours, too? What are some ways you can align the posture of your heart to hers?
Father, thank you for the privilege of community and family. I ask you to humble me today, just as you did Mary. Show me how I can glorify you with the gift of family you’ve given me. I want to magnify you with my soul today. Amen.
Song of Encouragement: Here is a song I wrote based on Luke 1
.
Photo Credit: Pixabay