Among the Unnoticed

And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home. 

(Luke 1:56)

Have you ever thought what it must have been like, in that house where Mary was staying? There were probably only the three of them there—Mary, Elizabeth, and her husband Zechariah. Actually there were five, if we count the two unborn babies. But none of the males in the family could talk at that point. I suspect it turned into a very feminine world for three months—a world full of the concerns of women of that culture.

What did they talk about? Surely about the chores of daily life— who would get the water, what to buy at the market, offers to teach Mary a new recipe. They would have discussed pregnancy and childbirth. Both of them would have thought about the future—what it meant to raise a child in old age, and whether Joseph would go through with the wedding. And of course they prayed and talked about the Lord and what He was doing, like the faith-filled women they were.

In that day, even more than in ours, the family home was a humble place—mostly private, full of practical chores and concerns, not much valued by the wider world in spite of its absolute necessity. But it was precisely that humble, homely environment that God chose for His Son’s first months on earth— for His prophet John’s last months before birth—for His servant Zechariah, who was learning the hard way what it meant to trust God’s Word. God is not above diapers and cradles and morning sickness, anymore than He is above suffering and death on a cross—or rising from the dead in a borrowed tomb. He chose this—all of this—because He chose you.

Lord, help me to truly believe how much You value me. Amen.

Reflect & Discuss

1. Have you ever felt overlooked? Why?
2. How do you know that God does not overlook you? 
3. What difference does that awareness make in your life?