My five year old son asked me the other day, “Daddy, what do you want for Christmas?” As the lump in me throat subsided I looked at him and smiled. He would not understand but I replied anyway, “I have every dream I have ever wanted because you are my son.”
Ten years ago, five years ago, my answer would have been different. Maybe on some level that is copout but the older I get the more I find greater fulfillment in the relationships of my family and friends. Things don’t matter nearly as much. Thankfully.
I can’t help but thinking about dreams during Christmas and Advent. How they shape and lead us in our own personal story and how they connect to God’s great story.
Mary had a dream. A young Jewish girl with a man she loved and cared for but with a bit of a problem. She was pregnant. And Joseph was not the father. Her dreams colliding with reality… how was this going to play out? How would her dreams of a marriage, family, and home meet with this child she was carrying of the Most High God?
Mary was so young.
Thirty three years later she witnessed her greatest fears come to life. The crucifixion of her beloved Jesus. Her dreams dying each passing moment of his anguish. The flashbacks of his birth in that lowly cattle stall in Bethlehem. Presenting her son in the Temple with Joseph to receive his most Holy Name. The miracles, signs and wonders. Water turned to wine in Cana…at her request.
All for what purpose? Was this what the angel meant when he said to Joseph, “You are to give him the name of Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Mary sang a beautiful song when she began to accept she would conceive a son. “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Even then the dark shadow of the cross was looming ever closer.
She did not realize dreams do not end with death. Every dream she had for Jesus could not be compared to the moment she saw her risen son…her risen Lord.
Her risen dreams.
Mary’s song is our song. Even in the midst of suffering. If we will allow it our suffering will bring glory to Jesus. “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
God’s peace,
Mark+
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