Luke 1:46-55: You Are Seen. Remember That

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” - Luke 1:46-55

How amazing it is at that moment-however brief-when it all makes sense and you know that you are right where God intended for you. Those moments don't happen very often. Our lives and our minds are cluttered. God doesn't necessarily speak often. But then it clicks, even for a little bit of time and you understand and it makes sense. Then maybe it is gone.

That's what happened to Mary. She had nothing special-no glorious back story. She lived poor, in small town on the back end of the Roman empire. She lived normal and expected to live out her life in that small town, married to a local, hard working man, have kids. But then the angel appeared and for a brief moment, she saw it all-her place in her setting under God. As she said, "the Mighty One has done great things for me." 

Her life was going to have a lot of disappointing and mundane bits to it. A few times she was going to doubt-when Jesus was acting crazy, when her other children didn't get along so well, when her husband died and when Jesus was a convicted criminal. So it was important that she remembered what God showed her in this part of her story. Here, she sings a song-a song that she remembered many years later to share with the author of this gospel. Twice in the next chapter it mentions that Mary "treasured" these moments and "pondered" them.  By being careful to remember what God showed her in these moments, she could be reassured in all of the other moments.

I think that this is true for us, too. Sure, we don't all have Jesus the Messiah as a son or receive angel-grams from on high, but we do-by grace-receive moments of clarity about God and his purposes for us and those around us. He doesn't speak directly to us often, so it is important to "treasure" them and "ponder" them, because, as with Mary, he has done great things for us and within them lie many lessons that he wants to teach us.