Mary's Song

First of all, thank you so much for so many wonderful responses to my questions about cloth diapers.  I really appreciate all of the feedback immensely.  Since we'll be travelling a lot for Christmas (not just to visit my parents in Northern California--but while we're there, we'll be headed all over the place to visit friends and family), I'm going to hold off on purchasing any additional cloth diapers quite yet.  And then I'll go back to work and see how things go that first week in January, and then decide from there.  (Have I mentioned how anxious I am about going back to work?  That's a whole new post for another day...)

Okay--to preface this post--I am NOT in any sort of way comparing myself to Mary, the mother of Jesus.  So please don't cry "blasphemy" on me.  But our pastor preached on the "Mary's Song" passage today, and something in the verses really resonated with me.  Before I go any further, let me share some of those verses:

"My soul glorifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my savior,

for He has been mindful

for 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."

Luke 1:46-49

I've shared before that I really feel like God did some amazing things in my life as He brought me through the the despair of loss and into a new hope with my successful pregnancy.  I was knocked down with each loss, and somewhere through the process I was humbled.  I was humbled in the sense that I felt defeated by the losses; but then I was also humbled when I began to sense God's goodness in my life in the midst of the losses.  So the first part of the verse that touched me was Mary's "humble state".  I wasn't like this before.  I was proud and competitive and boastful.  And while I do still struggle with these flaws, I think that God has also brought a new humility into my life as well.  I also like how she says "all generations will call me blessed".  From the name of my blog and my attempts to recognize my daily blessings, I do realize that I really am blessed--even through the losses.  But now with Ella, we have the chance for "all generations [to] call me blessed".  She is the beginning of a new lineage in our family, and truly embodies a new generation.  I pray that she will come to recognize that I really am blessed...and so is she.  Lastly, I love the verse "for the Mighty One has done great things for me".  Ain't that the truth!  He gave me Ella, which is truly great; but He has grown me and changed me in the process as well.  

Perhaps it feels different to read and relate to "Mary's Song" because I can now hold my child in my arms.  I know that after experiencing this pregnancy and childbirth, I'm looking at Mary's role in the Christmas story with a whole new appreciation.  Again, please don't think that I'm somehow trying to compare myself to Mary.  Rather, I guess I'm just rejoicing along with her--not just for Ella, but for all the great things that God has done--starting with giving us his son.

Today's blessing was the chance to hang out with my very-dear friend and share my husband's new camera with her so that she could take some amazing pictures of her son.  Her camera broke, so the last time that she took pictures was when he was 10 days old (and he's now approaching 9 weeks).  Her birthday was yesterday, so I'm going to get some printed for her as a gift.