Mary Didn't Have A Friggin' Clue

There's this song that rears it's ugly head this time of year. It's called "Mary, Did You Know?" and boy oh boy, do I know. Every year FOR YEARS this woman in my church would sing it around Christmas time. Though I hate it now cause I've heard it so many times, the premise of it really is kind of cool. Here are a few lines of the song...

"Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation? 

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your Baby Boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?

The sleeping Child you're holding is the Great, I Am."

I think of what Mary was feeling when the angel Gabriel appeared to her. There she was, minding her own business sweeping or something and then BAM - angel of the Lord. He tells her she's going to have a son... even though she's not married and actually hasn't even had sex. Talk about a lot to process. That's why this song is kind of huge. Mary didn't know any of those things! And I bet at the time she was better off for it. Can you imagine if God had downloaded all of that information to her right then and there on the spot... “Not only are you having a son.. but he's actually the Son of God sent to restore mankind to its Creator. And oh by the way, your son will die the most gruesome death in history... but don't worry cause He'll come back to life...” That's heavy stuff! This poor girl probably would have croaked right then and there. 

A couple of months ago I wondered, "Why doesn't God give us the answers we are looking for?" and someone suggested, "Maybe because He knows we can't handle the answers just yet." Mary didn't know anything of what was about to take place over the next 34 years or so but look how things turned out! God's will came to pass and Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph - two teenagers that didn't have a clue what they were doing but knew that they had been given Something Incredible. 

I guess what I'm getting at is this - it's okay to not know. It's okay to not have a frigging clue. I don't know why God doesn't always fill in the blanks we have. Maybe it really is because we can't handle it. Maybe it's because  in the grand scheme of things, it's better if we don't know right now, if at all. 

Luke 1:26-38 says that the angel appeared to Mary and told her two things - first, that she was going to have a son and second, that she was to give him the name Jesus. That's basically the gist of the angel's visit. No “How To Guide” or "Ten Easy Steps to Birthing and Raising the Messiah". But I love it because it speaks of the simplicity of God. In the dealings of the birth of the SON OF GOD we get two tiny details - It's gonna happen, here's His name. And here we are kneeling every night asking God to reveal to us the details of our five-to-ten-year life plan. That kills me. How silly are we!

Sometimes that's all we get; little, simple (and yet power packed) tidbits - “Here's what's going to happen and this is the first thing I want you to do when it does.” It's almost as if there's a tiny hidden asterisk that leads you to a hint, something along the lines of “once you get there you'll find out what to do next.”

I've got a couple things going on in my life where I don't know where they will end up. But God is leading me from one step to the next. I might not know what step 89345 is going to look like... but that's okay. I just need to know the next one. So no, Mary didn't know. And neither do I. And I think that's perfectly alright.

Just Change Lanes

The other day I was driving to pick up a friend. I pulled into the left turning lane at a set of lights and there were several cars in front of me. I sat waiting for the light to change and when it did, I noticed that no one was moving. The light went through two rotations and I sat there wondering what the heck was going on at the front of this line of cars. Maybe an accident that no one had noticed yet? Maybe the guy at the front just wasn't paying attention. Eventually, two cars ahead of me pulled into the lane beside us and began moving forward. As I followed suit, I saw what had been holding up the traffic. There was a pick up truck that had been parked by construction workers in the turning lane. It was at least thirty feet back from the traffic light but it had given other drivers the illusion that there were more cars in front of it. As I passed it, I sort of laughed to myself thinking how silly all of us had been for sitting and waiting and wondering why we just weren't moving.

God used this instance to speak to me about obstacles. In life there are difficulties we face and trials and hard times. These are just a normal part of everyday life. Stuff happens. However, sometimes we see things as obstacles that really are not obstacles at all! But we sit in "traffic" and wonder what the hold up is. Why things in our life aren't progressing or moving as quickly as we expected. Maybe we look to blame others for holding us back or preventing us from moving forward. But in this instance of the parked truck, I felt like God was saying that we were the obstacles. We all just assumed that some buddy at the front of the line was to blame. If we had taken ourselves out of the situation (errr, lane) and noticed for a minute, we all would have made it through the lights on the first go. Sometimes we are so busy and caught up with life that we don't even pay attention to where we are going and what is going on in the world around us. All of a sudden we're wondering what the hold up is... when we are partially to blame!

I don't know if this makes sense to anyone else but it was a fairly clear message to me. Sometimes the things we perceive to be obstacles are really just a revelation of our own oblivion. I feel like sometimes God is saying, "Just change lanes and you'll see!" What a simple idea. I'm not suggesting that you bail on things simply because they are not working out. If God leads you to do something you need to stick with it despite the challenges you may face. However, make sure they are actual problems and not just the appearance of some!  The concept of changing lanes is really about changing your perspective of a situation. Sometimes we look at things only from one angle, like from the back of a line of cars. Pulling over and passing changed everyone's view completely and we were then successful!

To sum it up, as you live your life for God you will encounter setbacks and hold ups. Prayerfully assess the situation from all angles. Check your attitude. Don't blame others. Be thankful for what has been given to you rather than what may have been taken away. Oh, and keep on driving!