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Sunday, the 3rd Week of Advent: Mary, What Did You Hear?

I awoke this morning to thunderstorms.  It isn't snowing outside, and the ground is green...but this is Wisconsin and it's suppose to be cold and white with snow!
Sometimes life feels like it's upside down...sort of a "what's going on here?" time.

I thought about that this morning as I read the passage in Luke of the angel Gabriel's visit to Mary.

Luke 1:26-38
26  In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27  to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
28  And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
29  But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
30  And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
33  and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34  And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35  And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
36  And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
37  For nothing will be impossible with God.”
38  And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

 There is so much in these few sentences that I wondered "Mary, what did you hear?"  
We've all had these times where things come at us at such a fast clip that we walk away and start to think..."what did he/she say?"  

 Mary:
You're favored...
God is with you...
You have found favor with God (ok, so that's twice he said that)
Conceive???
A Son???
Jesus
A Son of the Most High
The Lord is giving him the throne of his great Israel King, King David???
Forever
A Kingdom!

 What?, How? When?  the thoughts come flooding with the words echoing in her mind.

 Mary, did you know?

 That's impossible!!!  NO, it's not...just look at Elizabeth's pregnancy...everyone said that was impossible...
You're right...Nothing is impossible with God....

 For all of us, be blessed, be at peace...Our God comes and reassures us that indeed, he is at work in our lives and around us...be open, be aware, be ready, and like Mary...say,

 YES!  

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