She made a sweet Mary

That little girl in the photo above is my grandbaby. The doll she is holding depicts the Baby Jesus as she played His mother in the Christmas pageant at her church on Sunday.
She got top billing... her name was listed first on the cast list of the program inserted into the worship bulletin.
She made a sweet Mary. She nailed her one line. When the angel told her she was to give birth to God's Son, she said "ok."
She wrapped the baby in cloths and laid him in a manger after walking back and forth on the "stage" to Bethlehem with Joseph. She also "walked" to Egypt after the warning to flee Herod's wrath and find sanctuary there.
She smiled at the Magi and the shepherds and the animals who visited. She smiled at the audience. Particularly she smiled at her Granddad who was seated beside me.
He had taken her to practice the day before and despaired that the sheep and cow might not cooperate with the performance as they mostly cried and ran around during dress rehearsal. All the little animals of this Nativity were very young but overcame tears and stage fright and offered splendid performances.
So, perhaps Mary smiled with relief.  But smile she did. She smiled during the standing ovation she and the other "actors" received and she smiled for long minutes while bows and pictures were taken.
Her other grandmother, who she calls "Mimi" wondered aloud how much our little red headed grand-girl might be like the real mother of our Savior. I thought for a minute and then decided that perhaps she is quite a lot like what we know of the virgin Mary.
Our girl is stubborn and knows her own mind. She is a deep thinker and has a great deal of spunk.
However placid and serene the Christmas card photos and paintings of her may be, Mary had to have
a mighty fortitude, else how could she have withstood the difficulty God placed upon her from the moment the Spirit of the Living Christ was placed in her.
He is the only one who chose His own mother and from all the possible choices He chose Mary. She might not have always understood. Certainly she wasn't perfect, for only He is perfect. But she did nurture and care for Him right up to the end. She walked the Via Dolorosa. She stood at the foot of the Cross and watched her child die a horrible, painful and undeserved death. She was in the upper room waiting when He returned, as St. Luke is careful to point out.
If my grandbaby has such faith or a measure thereof, how blessed is she (and all of us?!)
Time will reveal if that is so. What I know for today is that she made a sweet Mary. And I will be praying for her in that direction.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone