Mary had dreams too!

Have you ever seen the movie, The Nativity? It’s a great movie that really brought new life to the Christmas story for me. I, and maybe you, often look past Mary, but this week’s lesson focuses on her and what happened in her life. It’s easy to forget she was a young girl who had dreams and aspirations for her life. We forget Mary was a daughter and sister and friend. I imagine she had dreams of the perfect wedding and the perfect groom. I’m sure being pregnant before the wedding with a baby who didn’t belong to Joseph wasn’t even close to what she had in mind. This to me is the difficult part to understand. Mary’s life was rolling along pretty well and then everything changed. I’m sure there were moments of fear and doubt, but mostly she seemed to take this new direction for her life in stride. She trusted God to do the best thing even though she probably couldn’t fathom what was happening. It’s tough for me to understand Mary because I don’t know how willingly I would go along with my life being turned upside-down. I’d like to think I’d have the same attitude she did, but probably only after a bunch of whining and complaining.

Spend a few moments this weekend thinking about how Mary’s life was changed. Then ask yourself if you’re ready for God to change your life in the same way. By that I definitely don’t mean getting pregnant, but rather by sending your life in a brand new direction. Are you ready to give up on some of your plans to realize the plans God has for you? Are you willing to let go of your future and trust Him with it? Whose dreams do you think are better, yours or His? Do you think Mary saw her life as God did?

Sometimes I wonder what God sees when He looks at my life. It’s easy to have life “figured out,” without really knowing the whole picture. What about you? Do you have things too figured out? Would it mess up your plans if God tried to change things up? Get a group together this weekend and watch The Nativity. Mary’s life didn’t go where she dreamed it would, but I’m fairly certain it went in a much better direction.