It’s the day before Easter as I write this, and I’ve been thinking about Mary.
Mary, the mama to Jesus. The one who, as a teenager was probably zoned out, day-dreaming about her fiancé and the cozy family life they’d have together with a passel of kids and a dog and a minivan, when a crazy heavenly disrupter showed up and announced Plan B. He tells her a lot of blow-her-mind stuff like she’s pregnant with the Messiah even though she’s not married, and she’s poor, and a “no-one”. But she knows her Lord intimately enough to trust Him. And she says,
“I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Did she have any idea what she was agreeing to? Did she mourn the loss of her Plan A that day?
She knew she was giving up the dream of a traditional marriage and pregnancy, but did she still envision a normal family life with Jesus as her son?
We think of Jesus in the garden before death, praying and saying, “Not my will but Yours.” but how many times did Mary have to pray that throughout her life?
When his brothers were jealous? When people mocked Him? When He did things she didn’t understand? When He was arrested and nailed to a cross? What of these things would Mary have chosen as her Plan A?
I’m betting that not one person reading this is living the “Plan A” life they envisioned. Even if you’ve had a pretty drama-free life, something is different than you imagined.
You thought you’d be married by now and you aren’t.
You thought you’d have kids and you don’t.
You thought you’d be living here, but you’re there, doing this, not doing that.
So how did Mary do it? How did she stay faithful to the Lord in the midst of what must have seemed like chaos, confusion, drama, and disappointment?
Mary’s who was bigger than her what.
Instead of focusing on the what – the circumstances of her life that buffeted her and probably left her feeling like an out-of-control rowboat on a dark, stormy sea – she focused on the who – God who is completely trustworthy and loving and powerful.
Maybe, even when she didn’t understand, she had a similar mantra to Lysa Terkeurst’s:
God is good.
God is good to me.
God is good at being God.
If you’re feeling out-of-control and frustrated with the “Plan B” life you’re living, I have created a spiritual exercise you might find helpful. You can click here to get it.
“But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” Psalm 33:11
