The Jesse Tree: Day 21
THE INEXPRESSIBLE PRIVILEGE
Telling my children "I love you to all the moons” is my attempt to express to them the weight behind the three simple words, “I love you."
I used to say the more common phrase, “I love you to the moon,” but I was left with this nagging feeling that I wasn't adequately communicating what I wanted them to hear.
Being able to vaguely comprehend the distance between the earth and the moon made the expression an inadequate picture of my love for them.
Now I say, “I love you to all the moons (in the universe),” and when they ask, “How many moons are there?” I say, “More than I know.”
How do we express the inexpressible? How do we express what we cannot comprehend?
In Luke 1:46-55 we find Mary is trying to express herself through a song traditionally known as “The Magnificat.” She is attempting to communicate the weight behind the three simple, yet profound, words, “God picked me.”
In Mary's song she mentions the proud, the mighty, the rich, none of whom were her. Twice she refers to herself as one of “humble estate” meaning she lived with no sense of expectation that her life was worthy of notice, and yet now as she sings she is aware that she is going to be remembered from generation to generation for bringing the Son of God into the world.
For Mary, the miracle of the miraculous conception, was not simply a matter of biology being by-passed, but that the wisdom of the world was being turned on its head.
The miracle in her eyes was the conception of a new Kingdom, where the unnoticed would be noticed, where the worthless would be given worth, and the humble would be exalted.
The miracle for Mary was found in her whisper of the three simple words, “God picked me.”
So today, we, the chosen children of God, are Mary. We carry on her legacy of carrying the Son of God into the world, but what Mary really does with “The Magnificat” is not to remind us of the task, but to remind us of the inexpressible privilege.
I used to say the more common phrase, “I love you to the moon,” but I was left with this nagging feeling that I wasn't adequately communicating what I wanted them to hear.
Being able to vaguely comprehend the distance between the earth and the moon made the expression an inadequate picture of my love for them.
Now I say, “I love you to all the moons (in the universe),” and when they ask, “How many moons are there?” I say, “More than I know.”
How do we express the inexpressible? How do we express what we cannot comprehend?
In Luke 1:46-55 we find Mary is trying to express herself through a song traditionally known as “The Magnificat.” She is attempting to communicate the weight behind the three simple, yet profound, words, “God picked me.”
In Mary's song she mentions the proud, the mighty, the rich, none of whom were her. Twice she refers to herself as one of “humble estate” meaning she lived with no sense of expectation that her life was worthy of notice, and yet now as she sings she is aware that she is going to be remembered from generation to generation for bringing the Son of God into the world.
For Mary, the miracle of the miraculous conception, was not simply a matter of biology being by-passed, but that the wisdom of the world was being turned on its head.
The miracle in her eyes was the conception of a new Kingdom, where the unnoticed would be noticed, where the worthless would be given worth, and the humble would be exalted.
The miracle for Mary was found in her whisper of the three simple words, “God picked me.”
So today, we, the chosen children of God, are Mary. We carry on her legacy of carrying the Son of God into the world, but what Mary really does with “The Magnificat” is not to remind us of the task, but to remind us of the inexpressible privilege.
“My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant." Luke 1:46-48
Pause to reflect
How can you better order your life around the privilege of sharing Christ with your friends, neighbors and colleagues?
Pray that God would continue to deepen your sense of awe and wonder in what it means that God would chose us to be ambassadors for Christ.
Pray that God would continue to deepen your sense of awe and wonder in what it means that God would chose us to be ambassadors for Christ.
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