ARE YOU BEING TESTED THIS CHRISTMAS?

Christmas is an opportunity to remember something we all tend to forget as the pressures of life weigh us down. It’s always been this way, I think. Even the blessed Mother Mary needed to be reminded on the very first Christmas.

The things spoken to her by the Archangel nine months earlier had caused her to be perplexed: “How can this be, since I am a Virgin?” Gabriel chose not to contend the point on her level, because on her level, he knew she was right. In human terms, the things he proclaimed to her that night were indeed impossible.
 
The Angel had reassured her by saying, “Do not be afraid,” but nine months had now passed, and not much had happened to assuage Mary’s fears. Joseph did not divorce her, or have her killed for adultery, as could have occurred in those days. Finally, he did believe her about the pregnancy, after he was visited by the Angel too. But that had not prevented others from talking. They had both been disgraced.
 
A decree had gone out from Caesar Augustus, and a long, wearisome journey was taken, on a donkey no less, through a perilous land full of thieves. At long last, they arrived in Bethlehem, exhausted, as time for her labor drew near. She had every reason to be perplexed, ever since the Angel first visited, but now, who could have guessed this?! No room in the Inn? She would be forced to deliver her child in a stinking, unsanitary stable. Mary’s life, much like yours and mine sometimes, had taken a turn for the absurd.
 
She viewed her predicament from every angle. She couldn’t begin to understand how this was all going to work out. As her pain intensified in that cold little barn, Mary groped to remember just exactly what the Archangel had told her nine months before. What reason had he given her not to fear? She remembered him saying, “Greetings, favored one.” Some favor, indeed! Her life was now a wreck. Maybe the Angel’s visitation was just a dream after all. Either way, it didn’t seem to matter anymore, as she writhed in the hay. Her life and her circumstances seemed more ludicrous and impossible than ever.
 
But I suppose if God intended to keep us imprisoned in the realm of the possible, He would never have sent that first Christmas at all. The Angel’s words were later recorded, but not for Mary. She has long since passed her test. It is now time to pass our test, and overcome our fears. Life ebbs away too quickly not to do so. 
 
When our most cherished dreams have been shattered, and it seems the doubters of our lives just may be right, when it appears we’d be absolute fools to dare to take even one more step forward, we need to remember something that is easily forgotten. God chose to enter our world during Mary’s darkest hour, even as the cry of a Baby pierced the blackness of that night. Mary finally did remember the Angel’s promise then. It is now time for us to remember, to lift our eyes to that Baby, and believe:
 

https://mailchi.mp/atkh/mary-passed-her-test-it-is-now-our-time-to-remember?e=4c78abbd6f