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December 12, 2008

Creative Acts of Obedience

by by Sharon Gartland

Serene Madonna? I don't think so

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is usually painted looking so serene, but I have to wonder if that was always the expression on her face. The advent season is all about her story, as the young virgin honored to be selected to bear the Messiah. She didn't seem to struggle too much with her yes, but did she have any idea what would be coming next?

This past spring I was in Israel driving by bus from Nazareth to Bethlehem, thinking, "This would not be fun, on a donkey - in your third trimester! Besides the inconvenient travel, she encountered a fiance who wanted to break it off, a village abuzz with gossip, and a less than optimal delivery location. And that was just in the first nine months of the story.

God calls each of us to creative acts of obedience throughout our lives.

A few years ago, after a season of listening and discernment, I had begun a doctoral program. I had quit my job, located funding, and arranged childcare. Three weeks into my first full-time semester of graduate school, I discovered I was pregnant. Not unhappy news, just unexpected.

As nausea, fatigue and anxiety about the future began to come, I had quite a few conversations with God, wondering why the story was unfolding this way. This was not the plot line I would have written for my life. Three children seemed like plenty to me. I was really excited about getting my PhD and thought God wanted me to get it. What was God up to with this new baby and why? Didn't he know what I could handle? Why wasn't he rewarding my obedience with smooth paths and stress-free progress?

Fast forward seven years where my life story, now richer by one more delightful little boy, continues to take unexpected twists and turns. Some welcome and some that make me wonder if God is toying with me. I have grown in my respect and appreciation for Mary, the young woman called to such a tremendous creative act, who went on to continue being a part of God's bigger story. Her perseverance and obedience throughout her life despite the dissonance she must have experienced at times with how the story unfolded, have been a rich example for me to follow.

Mary's story is worth digging into. One of the twists in my life has been taking on a role with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship to create resources to support women called to be in the graduate school, faculty, and professional world. In fact, in a few weeks, Women in the Academy and Professions will be hosting an event in Chicago called "Finding Space for God," where women can enter into the story of Mary and see what God has to say to them through it.

What have you heard God say to you through her story?

Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on December 12, 2008 1:56 PM

Comments

Mary's story has always been incredibly meaningful for me. Despite her obedience she had many challenges, including living as a fugative and watching her son die a tragic death. Yet she knew without a doubt that Jesus was the son of God, and she had to know that He was always watching out for her son. I can't imagine her horror when her son was lost for three days in Jerusalem...yet God still smiled upon her. I wonder what it must have been like to raise a savior -- I'm sure her prayers as a Mom were sometimes in desperation when he was sick or highly active. Yet she was just a woman like you or me. When things are tough, I try to imagine her relationship with God and try to seek the same.

Posted By: Susan | December 12, 2008 7:36 PM

However, my dear Christian Lady, yes, as billions upon billions are spent on contraceptions nowadays much of it by the Christian Community, how about it? Why and was it fair that God waited so long in letting sciense invent all that antipregnancy stuff, so that other women in the past could have accomplished what you seemingly are accomplishing in addition to be mother of only two? In closing is it not really true that including the Christian Community, procreation is practiced way below the animal kingdom? The basic cause of the American Christian homes becoming more and more not an example for non-believers to follow, but fully there with divorce rampant, and most certain even abortion so a profession is not hindered, and even the fewer children mostly ending up in daycares centers ever younger. Animal mothers do not do that. Is Biblical truth not saying in reality, that father is supposed to be the bread winner while mother keeps watch of her brood?

Posted By: H. D. Schmidt | December 13, 2008 5:19 AM

One of the things I love about Mary is that she was not only called to be the mother of Jesus, but also served as an active member of the early church. She was a complex, obedient woman who modeled a life of responding to God's call on her life in big and small ways. I am grateful that God has given me the privilege of raising four children but I am equally grateful that He recognizes all of who I am and expects me to be obedient in offering my whole self for His purposes. I delight in coming alongside women who are seeking to hear and obey God's call on their life in all ways.

Posted By: Sharon | December 13, 2008 6:43 PM

When I learned about Jesus, and especially the story of his birth, I was so delighted and enlighted about Mary the mom of Jesus, how she was over shadowed by the Holy Spirit when she was young and just a little pleasant girl, now she ponder on these things when the Angel told her what thus said God,"and how this could be when I know no man," but she believed and was humble until the birth of our Lord. Carry the child that going to save her life and our life. (WOW), That goes to show us she was obedient to her husband and to God, we as Women of God must pattern ourself likewise be obedient to the day of death we alreay bent redeemed. Let us Seek God; that we be highly favored and carry out the will for our lives. We don't have to heard, loud, or seen, let us stand in the shadow of Mary and carry the Seed and that is the Written Word of God and be witness to others, to fulfill the promises of God. God said and it shall be so. That is our pupose of life he commission us to go out and compell those who are lost.

Posted By: Sister Smiley | December 17, 2008 10:49 AM

What an example Mary is for all women who want to serve the Lord. She was so young, yet she was willing to obey and accept the great gift God was giving her. We see in her obedience and wisdom. She not only raised our Savior, but also her other children who would follow in the footsteps of Christ as servants bringing the good news. We as Christian mothers need to ask ourselves--are we raising our children (and in some cases our grandchildren), to love the Lord and follow wherever He leads us? Will those we raise be just as willing to pick up the bloodstained banner and shout to the world, "Where He leads me I will follow?"

Posted By: Cheryl | December 23, 2008 8:18 PM

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