Mary, did you know?

The week is passing quickly. Wrapping presents, decorating, as well as various cold weather activities have kept my household busy. I am pretty much recovered from being sick, finally. A cold still lingers- but it isn't too bothersome.

Nativity is very close. We were listening to some Christmas music earlier this evening and heard the song Mary, did you know? I'll bet some of you out there have heard it. Some memorable lines are Mary, did you know that your baby boy would give sight to a blind man? The song speaks of some of the things Christ did in his lifetime, and contrasts those things with the tiny child whose birth we celebrate in just a few days.

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know

that your baby boy has come to make you new?

This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy will calm the storm with His hand?

Did you know

that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?

When you kissed your little baby you kissed the face of God?

Mary did you know...

The blind will see

The deaf will hear

The dead will live again

The lame will leap

The dumb will speak

The praises of The Lamb

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?

Did you know

that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?

The sleeping Child you're holding is the Great I Am.

In Orthodox tradition, Mary, the Theotokos, knew full well who she was and who she would bear. It was announced to her clearly by an angel. Further, the Theotokos was promised to God and raised in the church, joyfully entering the temple when she was only three, and remaining there through adulthood, a virgin whose life was devoted to God. Surely, she was closer to God than many of us will ever be, and understood much more than we can imagine. Still, I think about how she was also a young woman, pregnant with her first child. In her holiness, I suppose she could have been without fear. I don't know that she knew just how many things her Son would do...who could have comprehended what the God-man would accomplish.

In the forefeast of the canon, Saint John of Damascus wrote, "How shall a small cave receive thee, for Whom the world cannot find a room? O thou Whom none can comprehend! O Thou, Who with the Father are without beginning, how shalt thou appear as a small child?" Our priest reminded us that we must remember not only the small baby born in a cave, but the man that healed blindness and raised many from the dead, and He who is Immanuel (God with us), but is also Christ who sits in judgement on the last day, casting demons and sinners into a river of fire. Who can comprehend the great I AM?  

If there's anything important to instill in our kids today, I think we need to instill that dual vision- not just the sweet, perfect baby Jesus laid in the glowing manger with his parents leaning lovingly around him which is most recognized this time of year. There is joy, more joy than can be expressed in words, but there also fear that should be taught. I've seen often that things that are Truth are not sweet and soft and pretty. I just hope that parents, especially Orthodox parents, will work against the sparkling images of modern Christmas and tell their children that God is not a lovely tree hanging low with decorations, nor is He a stack of presents waiting to be torn into. Just some thoughts from a young mother who still doesn't know.     

Christ is born! Glorify him!