If you think of December 25th as Jesus' literal birthday (I don't want to argue with you about it, because what matters is that He was born, and 33-1/2 years later He died on a Roman cross, and God raised Him from the dead for the forgiveness of our sins) then approximately 2000 years ago, a very pregnant teen mom was slogging her way across Israel in... no, on, a Mustang. (Wouldn't that be the modern day version of a donkey?) Okay, maybe a Bronco, or a Pinto. You decide.

This is not a tale of honor and glamour. Even Brittney Spears' little sister and Sarah Palin's daughter became targets of criticism when they got pregnant and decided to go ahead and have their babies. Teen moms just don't get many kudos, and they never have.

Flip the pages of the story back a few chapters. Nine months, to be exact. Historians estimate that Mary was between 14 and 17 years old at the time, based on her betrothal and cultural traditions of the day. I picture her doing chores - making a bed, or sweeping the floor - maybe she's grumbling about it, as teenagers are wont to do, when an angel shows up with a God-gram (like a singing telegram, but with an angel for the delivery guy, instead of gorilla or a girl in a funny costume).

We have trouble with the angel-thing because we have, as a culture, separated ourselves from the reality of the supernatural realm as far as it concerns God, angels, and demons. But Mary was a Jewish girl. She'd been brought up believing, accepting, and expecting the reality of the supernatural. It's sad to say, but I think today's teenagers would be more likely to recognize a vampire or a zombie than an angel of the Lord.


Gabriel, in all his angelic splendor, shows up, strikes a pose, and says, in his big, booming angel voice, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
Teenagers being teenagers, I'm guessing Mary slouched in her chair, or leaned on her broom, and shot  him the "look." The one that involves an eye roll, a slack lip, and an expression of supreme skepticism. (If you have self-esteem problems, stay away from teenagers, no matter how old you are.) Scripture says, "she was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be." Read it, and then and picture that reaction on some teeny-bopper you know.

Gabriel doesn't wait for Mary to start arguing. He says, "Don't be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus..." (Do you suppose this is where we get the sarcastic saying, "Don't do me any favors?" )
Mary knew what the angel said wasn't the equivalent of a winning lotto ticket or the world's largest Easter basket. An unmarried pregnant woman in those days was subject to punishment. The punishment for fornication and adultery was death.
O-kaaaaay. Put yourself in Mary's shoes, er... sandals. Angel brings a promise from God that, if you accept it, will likely result in humiliation, shame, broken relationships, and possibly death by stoning. We're not given any indication of Mary's pre-marital relationship with Joseph, whether they were "courting" or whether the marriage was arranged and they scarcely knew one another. Regardless, Mary knows if she accepts this "favor" from God, Joseph will have good reason to hate her. He'll have reason, according to Jewish law, not just to break their engagement, but to have her brought before the Sanhedrin for trial.

Teenage Mary looks the angel over. Thinks about what she believes. Acknowledges the One she's been brought up to trust implicitly for her every need and desire: Adonai, Jehovah, El Shaddai, and goes out on a faith limb.

She turns to the angel and says, "I am the Lord's servant... May it be to me as you have said."
That might be the boldest statement in scripture.

It ranks right up there with anything Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Peter, or Paul ever said. It's a statement of purely selfless faith. Note that: "self-less," not "selfish." How much did she know in advance? Did she understand all the prophecies? Did she realize God was about to accomplish a divine mystery through her? I don't know.

What I do know is that it takes great faith to grasp any of the promises of God - from salvation to healing to accepting a call to ministry - and say what Mary said... "be it unto me, according to Your word."

The promise is there for you. What do YOU say to it?

Even as a child I wrestled with the idea of the "perfect" mother. At some point during my elementary school years I asked my own mother why she "didn't bake cookies and wear an apron, like the other mommies."
"Because I work," she replied. Now, this was the late '70s, early '80s. Apron-wearing mommas were getting farther and fewer between in the age of "I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan" women.
Where did I get my maternal paradigm? I think it may have come from my Mom's 1961 Betty Crocker cookbook, with brown rings scorched on the cover where she set it on the stove's electric burner by accident. I pored over that book with its tabbed sections on planning dinner parties and setting a proper table, and suggestions like "freshen your lipstick and perfume before your husband comes in from work."
When I had my own children, I quickly discovered my paradigm was a pipe dream. Sure, I was a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom) who didn't have to work outside the home, but I couldn't seem to manage being fully dressed and smiling while I served a hot breakfast to my grateful family.
More days than I care to recall, I didn't manage to get dressed in anything except the pajamas I'd slept in the night before. And I was sure my smiling storybook family had been abducted by aliens and replaced with a fussy baby and cranky toddlers intent on destroying one another before their generic Cheerios were gone.
I didn't bake. It was too hard with a baby in a backpack and a toddler on each leg. I didn't own an apron and wouldn't have known where to buy one. And the oldest kid, or the dog, had eaten my lipstick. It's still a mystery.
I was a maternal failure.
And one day I read about the most famous mother of all. (If you've got the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" song in your head now, that's good. It will help you remember this!)
The first chapter of the book of Luke tells us the story of an unwed teenage mother who, if she lived in today's world, would probably be hospitalized as delusional. Her name is Mary.
Mary was engaged, and historical data tells us she was probably between 14 and 16 years of age. One day an angel appears to her and tells her she's going to give birth to the son of God, who will become the savior of the world. Her response? After she asks "how," which was a logical question, she simply says, in modern vernacular, "okay, whatever You say."
Her cousin, Elizabeth, describes Mary this way: "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished."
What kind of mother does this make Mary, the mother of Jesus? She's a "faith-mom," and that's the kind of mother I want to be.
I heard a minister say, "The best thing you can do for your family is be a woman who hears from heaven." Not a woman who does craft projects, bakes the best cookies, has the cleanest house, dresses well, or participates regularly in school functions, (though none of those things are bad); but a woman who hears from God and believes what He says concerning her husband, her children, herself, and her household. She believes the best, she looks beyond what is "seen" to that which, as yet, is "unseen."
For the mother of a toddler struggling with recurrent ear infections, that means looking beyond those moments of lost sleep and doctor's bills, to see that child healthy and whole, and believing "it shall be."
For the mother of a child struggling in school, that means believing "all my children are taught by the Lord" and they "grow in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man."
For the mother of a teenager going through a troubled period, it means confessing and praying over that teen, "the Lord will perfect that which concerns me," and "He will bring to completion this good work which He has begun in You."
I know of a mother whose children are all grown now. When her oldest son was out partying and carousing, she would pray, and the Holy Spirit would let her know where he was. She went so far as to go collect his inebriated personage and take him home. All the while, confessing over him that he would become the man of God he was destined to be. And he did! Now, that's hard to do! But that's being a "faith mom." And I can think of no higher goal to attain as a mother.
Happy Mother's Day!