"Be it done unto me according to thy word . . .."

By most accounts she was a teenager. She lived in a culture in which marriage and betrothals were based on strong rules. A woman who was found to be with child before marriage was subject to the death penalty.

Then it happened. An angel who identified himself as Gabriel appeared. I don't know how he appeared but I do know that every time an angel appears to a human being, that person is terrified and thinks they have seen God. She is told that God has chosen her to give birth to the savior of the world. She will conceive miraculously. The Holy Spirit will overshadow her and the Son of God will enter history.

Think about the last 16 year old girl you talked to. Imagine her confiding in you that a spirit appeared to her and that she is now pregnant. (Remember the culture of her day.) At the very least she had to be aware:

• No one would understand.
• Everyone would suspect her of adultery.
• Joseph could have her executed.
• She was about to experience something no one in history had ever gone through and no one will believe her.

Her response was one for the ages: "Behold the handmaiden of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy Word."

This whole sequence of events would end up being as if sword was piercing her heart. The angel told her that. She would see her son executed. However, she would also see him risen from the dead. The last we hear of her in the Bible, she is in the upper room with the other disciples as they are filled with the Holy Spirit and commissioned to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

In essence she was saying a second time: "Behold the handmaiden of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy Word"

Whatever else you say or believe about Mary, she remains one of the most amazing examples of obedient faith in all of history. She trusted what God promised, He would bring to pass. Her cousin Elizabeth said of Mary, "Blessed is she who believed there would be a fulfillment of all God had spoken to her."

Note that she didn't understand it, she believed. Not in her capabilities, perfection or even worthiness; she believed that God would fulfill what HE promised. Could you dare to pray a prayer like hers: "Lord be it done unto . . . ME"?

Why not, this year, let's agree to a have a "Mary" Christmas?