Music Monday: The Servant of the Lord

On Friday, the lovely Susannah from Simple Moments Stick hosted her monthly Faith & Fellowship link up.  This month's topic is "The Servant of the Lord."  It is so fitting for this time of year to reflect on Mary and how she so willingly and without question accepted God's plan for her.....

....carrying a baby when she was an unmarried virgin woman.

Whoa.

In case you're not aware, that was kind of a huge "No, no" back in Mary's time.

Here's what happened:

"God sent the angel Gabriel....to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.  The virgin's name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you.'  
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus....'  
'How will this be,' Mary asked the angel, 'since I am a virgin?'
The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God....'
'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered.  'May your word to me be fulfilled.'"  (Luke 1:26-31; 34-35; 38 NIV)

Mary doesn't go all.....human....on the angel.  She only asks one question.  She wants to know how it will happen since she's a virgin.  She doesn't ask, "Are you sure the Lord wants me?" or "Do I have to?".  She doesn't say, "That sounds nice, but no thank you."  or "But what will everyone think about me?".  She DOES say, "'I am the Lord's servant....May your word to me be fulfilled."

What does this have to do with music, since it is, in fact, Music Monday?

I sang this song in church on Sunday.  It's called "You're Here".  It's a song by Francesca Battistelli, and it's about Mary on the night Jesus was born.

Of course, we don't know for sure if Mary knew the ultimate sacrifice that baby Jesus would pay by dying on the cross to save our sins, but she sacrificed her reputation, the possibility of losing her fiance, and her body to bring the Savior into the world.

Without question.

If only we could be the humble Servants of the Lord that Mary was.

Thankful in All

Thankfulness.

It's a big thing this time of year.  When Susannah e-mailed me about this month's link-up, I knew that I wanted to reflect on this topic a bit more.  Yesterday, I posted some things I am thankful for...this year and every year.  But what it comes down to is WHO should we be giving thanks to??

For me, the answer to this question is my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that I fail over and over at even taking time to pray some days, but when I do, I try to remember to give thanks for all of my blessings.  Does that mean that I list EVERY single thing that I'm thankful for?  No.  He knows.  It's just important to take the time to express that gratitude to Him.

"Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind..."
Psalm 107:15 (NIV)

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name." Psalm 100:4 (NIV)

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights..." James 1:17 (NIV)  Does this mean that our lives will be perfect and God will only allow great and wonderful things to happen to us?   Unfortunately, it doesn't.  We're not promised that life will be easy.  Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world." John 16:33 NIV 

That, my friends, is why we should be thanking Him, and NOT just when things are good, but in ALL things.  "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV) Emphasis added

It's not easy to give thanks when things aren't going the way you want.  It's not easy to give thanks when you are hurting.  It's not easy to give thanks when things around you are falling apart.  But it is God's will that we do.  There is always something good in our lives.  When times get tough, we need to think of those things and give God thanks for them.  He will bring us through the difficult times.  As stated above from John 16, He has already overcome the world!  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!  (Philippians 4:13)

There is a beautiful song by Casting Crowns that really hits on giving thanks in difficult circumstances, and I leave you with the video.  Take a few moments to listen.

In His Image

My friend, Susannah, from Simple Moments Stick is starting a new link-up to encourage us, and remind us that we are all created in God's image.

It took me time to decide what I wanted to write about for this first link-up. The only thing that kept coming to me stems from things that have happened in my family recently. We had two deaths in our family in two weeks. My uncle's mother, who was a big part of our family, and my grandfather.

I don't want this to be a sad post, and I promise this will connect with the theme of the link-up. :)

First of all, though we are sad to not have them with us any more, we are comforted to know that we will see them again:

"Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 NIV)

Secondly, I am reminded of how blessed my family is. We have always been very close. My cousins are more like my brothers and sisters than cousins. Even though we are grieving, we remember to celebrate the lives of these two people, rather than dwell on their deaths. We banded together with love to support one another.

Jesus said, “'A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.'" (John 13:34 NIV)

Sure, we're family. We're supposed to love each other any way, aren't we?  Unfortunately, many families in society today do not get along. They don't love and support each other. We do. God gave us each other. Do we always agree?  No. But we always love each other.

So, in that way, we are made in His image. Jesus also said, "'By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.'” (John 13:35 NIV)