Mary: Behold the Handmaid of the Lord

I have been thinking a lot about Mary this Christmas season, especially after the amazing new videos put out by the Church about the birth of Christ (visit lds.org to view these clips). What really stuck out to me was the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary to tell her she would be the mother of Jesus the Savior of the World. I think of how I myself would feel if I had received such a calling. The fact that she was only 14 years old at the time adds to the tremendous respect I feel for her response. In those time infidelity when espoused could mean at best rejection by society and future spouse and at worst death by stoning. I am sure she feared what would happen to her as she faced the community as an espoused women now pregnant. How many would believe her? What would Joseph do? Ultimately her fate rested in his hands and in his belief or unbelief of her claim to be the mother of the Christ. And even if Joseph believed her what would her family, friends, neighbors, community say? For the rest of her life she could be marked as an adulterer and scorned and regarded as a fallen and degraded youth. Besides all of these challenges I can think of more; what would it feel like to know you would raise the perfect Son of God? I think of my first day in the mission field and how overwhelmed and unprepared I felt. There are few more frightful and uncomfortable feelings than those of inadequacy and the sense of being overwhelmed with things we feel we are not up to performing. I am sure being told I would raise the Savior of the World would be far more overwhelming than anything I have ever been asked to do for the Lord. And ultimately I can only imagine the pain of being a mother watching a son go through what Christ would go through, scorned and hated of men, rejected by his own, and ultimately, to watch him bleed and die on the cross, suffering for our shortcomings, sorrows, and sins, knowing that just hours before he had bled from every pore under the pain and pressure of performing the infinite and all powerful Atonement. I am not a mother but I can only imagine how that would feel to watch the man I raised and cared for for 33 years go through what the Savior went through. And yet, Mary did not let these doubts, fears, and feelings of inadequacy stop her from performing what the Lord asked her to do. I am sure she had a deep seeded testimony of our Heavenly Father and the wisdom of His will, His callings, His commandments. She knew the Lord knew she could do it and would do it. She knew that following the Lord's will brings blessings that far exceed any sorrow or ridicule the world can bring. She knew that ultimately we must all "trust in the Lord and lean not unto our own understanding". She knew that God would be with her every step of the way, and understood the honor and blessing of her calling, that she Mary, would be considered "blessed among women" (Luke 1:28). She may have understood the pains and struggles she might have because of her calling, but she also understood the amazing experience and blessing raising the literal Son of God would be. She understood who Christ was and the "glad tiding" the message of His coming really was. In short, she trusted God and his words. May we all learn to do as Mary did when we are called to do. Great blessings await those that do so, and as we seek to understand who God and Christ really are, we will gain the ability to trust all his words, and we will have the strength to say as Mary did ""Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38).