Luke 1:38  Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. (NLT)

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Our best next steps depend on the first step in front of us. When opportunity meets invitation, when wonder becomes reality, everything changes. One change changes everything. One agreement reshapes our whole world. 

Mary said, “Yes.”

Her mission was an honor. It was an honor filled with more questions than answers, more heartbreak than expected, more tears than one should ever cry, more joy again and again and again and forever than any story created by any mind but His.

Her Yes inconvenienced her. It made her the root of ridicule. It made her the object of theological battles. It made her a mother who could never have been prouder, never more grateful, never more broken, never more healed and whole.

Her Yes threatened all she held dear and all she hoped for. Her betrothal was jeopardized. Her happy home was threatened. Her relationships all tilted in uncomfortable directions. 

Her Yes also gave her confidence. It gave her a front-row seat to fantastic stories of midnight angel choirs. It gave her confidence in her husband, a strong and silent type who heard God clearly and obeyed God immediately. If he had not, they all would have died.

Her Yes gave her the terror of losing young Jesus and finding him days after the caravan from their hometown had left Jerusalem and started home. It gave her new insight when her question, “why have you done this to us?” was met with two questions from Jesus: “But why did you need to search? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (See Luke 2:48-52.)

Her Yes gave her precious memories to add to her collection, and she pondered them often. (See 2:51.)

Her Yes helped initiate the turning around of a world spinning out of control. 

In John 2:5, we find a confident woman, a loving mother, and a big problem. This led to Jesus’ first miracle. Having lived with all the challenges and delights of saying Yes to God, she instructed others to do the same. She said, “Do whatever he tells you.”

What is Mary saying to us today across the centuries? The message is the same. Give God your unqualified Yes. Do whatever Jesus tells you. Hear God clearly. Obey him immediately. 

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I will listen for God’s voice and do what he says.

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Our Father, build into my heart and mind the ready disposition to hear what you are saying and to do it immediately. Make me more like Mary, who gave you her Yes and for all. I also say Yes. Whatever you want is what I also want. Amen.