Five Minute Friday<\/a> train today because \u2026 Christmas. I\u2019m in the throes of shopping, wrapping, shopping, making handmade gifts, shopping, cooking Paleo for my husband, shopping, and \u2026. you get the point.<\/p>\nThank God for Amazon.<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s word is different<\/i>. I think the word different can either conjure up wonderful or painful thoughts. It\u2019s wonderful to get out of town and see something different. New places, new terrain, new stores and people and cultures. But experiencing<\/i> something different and being<\/i> someone different are \u2026 different. Experiencing<\/i> something different is often fun. Being<\/i> different is often painful and discouraging.<\/p>\n
Societies constantly attempt to lump a large group of people into being one type of person who believe the same things. Currently, our society is brainwashing us to believe and act according to the \u201ctruth\u201d that truth doesn\u2019t exist, that the homosexual lifestyle can\u2019t be helped, that abortion isn\u2019t murder, that men are all dangerous and not to be listened to. And whatnot.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s not all be different. Let\u2019s all believe the same things, even if they\u2019re wrong. Let\u2019s all, as mothers, work outside of the home and call it equality and more fulfilling than 24\/7 motherhood. Let\u2019s all, as husbands, defer to the leading of our wives rather than lead our families as God intended. Let\u2019s all accept what God has said is abominable as good, normal, and even heroic.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s enough to make a grown woman weep and gnash her teeth.<\/p>\n
When I think of different people in the Bible, Jesus a to mind first, of course. He came to show us all a radically different, sacrificial way to live.<\/p>\n
Next I think of Mary, His mother.<\/p>\n
-She accepted God\u2019s will for her life, even though it didn\u2019t make sense to her intellect. How will I be with child before I know a man?<\/p>\n
-Her calling was unique. How many women have been called to be Divinely impregnated by the Holy Spirit, carry the Savior of the world in their wombs, give birth to Him (in a lowly stable, no less), and raise Him to be a functioning citizen? Just one. How many women would\u2019ve ran for dear life from the angel who came to her with a plan that included a scandal so severe she could\u2019ve legally been sentenced to a fatal stoning by her betrothed?<\/p>\n
Well I would have ran. But not Mary. She was different.<\/p>\n
-She not only accepted God\u2019s will, she submitted to it. Yes, she asked how. How can this be possible if I am a virgin? But her question was one of genuine confusion, not of rebellion, as Zacharias\u2019 question was about his Elizabeth getting pregnant so late in life.<\/p>\n
-She praised in the midst of her strange (to her and to others, but not to God) testing. This is the mark of a true Christian. To praise God while going through difficulties and real-life scenarios that don\u2019t make sense to the human mind is to show the world that trusting wholly in a God who doesn\u2019t always make perfect sense to us is possible. Not only possible, but preferable. We exhibit our faith and God\u2019s sovereign rule over us when we sing through perplexion and difficulties. Mary\u2019s Magnificat is her outward praise, and I often read through it when I am feeling different and dejected for being so.<\/p>\n
To be different is<\/i> to often feel dejected. But if we study history, we will find many a great people were exceptional not because they swam with the crowd, but because they swam upstream \u2014 against the crowd.<\/p>\n
My five minutes is up, plus some. I hope this Christmas you find strength to praise in what should be a joyful season, but often ends up being a season in which many find it difficult to feel anything but dejected and defeated. Don\u2019t fret about that. Your feelings aren\u2019t always true. What\u2019s true is that a different, difficult lot in life might be what causes you, and more importantly your God, to be remembered<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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The Divine, Difficult Calling of Mary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"She accepted God\u2019s will for her life, even though it didn\u2019t make sense to her intellect. How will I be with child before I know a man?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/felixculpa\/2017\/12\/divine-difficult-calling-mary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Divine, Difficult Calling of Mary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"She accepted God\u2019s will for her life, even though it didn\u2019t make sense to her intellect. 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<\/p>\n