Michael recently posted some of his favorite Christmas songs, and I would like to share with you the one that has ranked number one for me the last couple years. Even in the off-season it makes me cry every time. Though Michael’s taste in music is much more “high brow” than mine (translation: I have a hard time understanding the lyrics of his favorites), we both appreciate, as Michael says, “songs that speak to the mystery and wonder of God Incarnate.”
My favorite Christmas song is “Be Born in Me (Mary)” by Francesca Battistelli. Here is the verse that really gets me:
All this time we’ve waited for the promise
All this time you’ve waited for my arms.
Did you wrap yourself inside the unexpected,
So we might know that love would go that far?
Can you imagine being Mary? The Jews had waited SO LONG for a Savior. They had the Law which helped them know better how to have relationship with God, but there was always that deep down awareness that they were never able to fully keep the Law, continually reminded that they were breaking relationship with Yahweh every time they sinned. They longed for a time when the sacrificial system was no longer needed. When they could be truly freed from the burden of their sin. The whole of all Jewish history was focused on waiting for the Promise of a Savior.
And here was Mary, recognizing in wonderment that The Promise was laying right there in her arms. She was His Mommy! And even more, that the Almighty God waited thousands of years for her arms! Maybe it’s just me, but I step inside Mary’s sandals, and it gets me every time. “Father, you are trusting me with Your Son???”
Here is the other part of the song that resonates with me:
I am not brave, I’ll never be
The only thing my heart can offer is a vacancy
I’m just a girl, nothing more
But I am willing, I am Yours
I especially felt this way during our adoption of Kieran. Before we even knew who our son would be, we knew we were supposed to adopt an older boy who was about to age out of the system. Who brings a teenage boy, with most likely unknown issues, into their family with 5 young vulnerable children at home?? From the outside, that doesn’t sound like a very wise decision. Yet, I knew, without a doubt, that is what God was calling us to do, so we had to move forward in faith. And even though God called us to pursue this, it didn’t mean that there wouldn’t be any problems, but we had to keep trusting in Him to walk with us step by step. I am not brave. I am just trying my hardest to be obedient and thanking God for His grace when I fail along the way.
I know where I have been. How I grew up very insecure with a lot of baggage. I, like Mary, wasn’t anyone special. Just a girl. But I sit in wonderment of how God would take a little girl and speak to her and use her for His service. But that is the God we serve, the One who takes nobodies and shines through them so that HE is glorified. His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. And I have plenty of them for Him to work with. 🙂