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Maybe you’re like me. I need “my people” in my life. Friends I can trust with the innermost places of my heart. Friends who encourage me, who help me find joy in times of uncertainty. Friends who, as one author said, “Help me find my wings when I forget how to fly.”
This story of Mary and Elizabeth reminds me of the sacred bond of friendship. Mary, after being told by the angel that she would birth Jesus, needed “her person.” Scared and confused, she left “in haste” and walked 80 miles in rough mountain terrain to the village of her cousin Elizabeth. She needed to share all the intense emotions she was feeling. I think we’ve all been in places where we desperately needed a loving friend to help us make sense of what was happening in our life. Places when circumstances outside of our control were changing the the trajectory of our lives from what we had always imagined, and from what was comfortable and safe. In those places, I’ve needed someone close to reassure me of God’s love and protection. Someone to remind me to place my trust in God and God alone. Someone to help shine light on my very intimate and personal situation.
As soon as Mary arrived at Elizabeth’s home, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb (John the Baptist) leaped with joy. Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit at Mary’s news, and Mary’s fear immediately turned to joy. Mary’s full assurance of God burst forth in a song of praise. A song of hope and joy. Mary doesn’t just sing in praise of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah, being born. She sings in praise of Jesus being born to HER.
We all love the Christmas song, “Mary, Did You Know?” The one line that speaks to me is, “This child that you delivered will soon
deliver you.” I believe that’s what our individual joy songs are all about, that God delivers us too. And when you know that Charles Spurgeon writes,
“Christ becomes truly and really yours. Yours, reigning in your heart. Yours, controlling all your passions. Yours, changing your nature. Yours, inspiring you with holy emotions. Yours, deep within, giving you joy unspeakable.”
And when you know that, you sing. You must sing. How can you not sing?
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