Luke 1:38 "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her. (What a picture of submission and servant-hood. After receiving the unprecedented and, in many ways, frightening message from the angel of the Lord that she would bear the Son of God, her first response was to agree with God's plans for her. Without question or complaint, she accepted the plan God had for her. While this young woman was given a glorious privilege, embedded in that gift would be deep trials and hardship as well. As Mary's example shows us, often buried within the gift of life and beauty each of us is given are trials and challenges that we can also trust the Lord has allowed and so, then, will provide us with the strength to endure and overcome. Mary's example also reminds us that God calls us to submit ourselves to His purposes and to accept His plan for our lives, to be His servant in the world we live in, not in a general, vague sense, but to be His servant in every moment we experience today, and to fulfill His plan for each of us. His plan is for us to be His servant, to accept His purposes for us, and to carry the Name of the Lord into every situation, into every conversation, into every attitude, and into every thought we have.)
