*Post by Sharon Hodde Miller*

The Christmas season means different things for different people. For some it is joyous, for some it’s insanely busy, and for others it is bitter. And then there are those of us who resonate with all three. Christmas brings the excitement of seeing loved ones, the busyness of parties and preparations, and the ache of loved ones lost.

It is remarkable that one season can usher in such an array of emotions and memories, but there is no better season than Advent to guide us through the jumble of nostalgia, cheer, and grief.

If you find yourself in that jumbled place this Advent, remember that another woman experienced the same tension long before you. For nine months, she existed in a place marked by both hope and fear, darkness and light. Her name was Mary.

In Luke 1:46-55 we read Mary’s response to the news of her coming Messiah son. This passage is often referred to as “Mary’s Song” or the “Magnificat,” and it is a beautiful example of obedience and faith in the midst of uncertainty and instability.

Most Bible commentaries pause at this passage to exalt Mary for her faith. After all, this young teenager was pregnant out of wedlock and could very easily be cast out of the community. She could be rejected by Joseph and live the rest of her days in poverty. And yet her response was so majestic and brave! Surely this is a woman to emulate, the commentators conclude.

I have a slightly different perspective. Over the top commendations of Mary fail, in my opinion, to capture her humanity. Even Jesus felt fear in Gethsemane. Was Mary really impervious to the doubts that most of us would have experienced in her situation?

I don’t think so. And here’s why:

It’s important to know that Mary’s words were not original to her. Instead she is echoing a passage found in 1 Samuel 2, also known as Hannah’s Song. Though the passages are not identical, it is obvious that Mary was intimately familiar with Hannah’s Song and called it to memory in Luke.

The reason this is significant is that Mary’s Song was not necessarily an overflow of her heart. She may not have felt the gratitude and ecstasy that the passage implies. As a good Jewish girl, she very likely grew up learning and memorizing these verses. They were written on her heart and she could easily call them to mind. In the same way that people reflexively recite the Lord’s Prayer or Psalm 23 in the midst trauma, Mary may have summoned those words in desperation. She recited what she knew to be true about God, even if she didn’t feel it.

Of course this is speculation on my part. But no matter her reasons for proclaiming those verses, Mary was engaging in an act of discipline. She was actively conforming her heart to her mind. She knew God had been faithful in the past and would continue to be so in the future, even if it took her heart awhile to catch up with that knowledge. Until then, she preached the truths of Scripture to herself. They comforted her at a time when her entire future was totally unknown.

That is a Mary who is human. She also provides an example we can easily live out. Mary’s faithfulness is not displayed by her blind joy but by her discipline and perseverance in the face of fear and doubt. Tim Keller once described this very type of Scriptural meditation as follows:

“Meditation is an inward dialogue with oneself…It means taking your heart in hand, reasoning with it and exhorting it until it becomes engaged in blessing and rejoicing in God. We are not helpless before our emotions, sometimes almost pummeling them into submission.”

The Christmas story is one of hope, yes, but it’s also a story of disciplined waiting. Mary was given a promise, but the fulfillment of that promise was yet to come. Likewise, many of us find ourselves in that place of already and not yet. God has promised us hope and salvation, but we still live in a world of brokenness, pain and frustration.

As we dwell in this place of waiting, we can respond as Mary did by meditating on the truths of God that we have in Scripture. The same God who delivered the Israelites and the same God who comforted Mary will do the same for us today. We need only remember.