Blessed Among Women

Image source: Unknown Instagram. (I can’t seem to remember the artist’s name, but all credit to them!)

“At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” Luke 1:39-45

It’s easy to see the abundance in others’ lives as an attack on our own bounty.

It is far too simple to idolize each other.

Am I doing enough? Have I been given enough? Is who I am enough? 

We see the goodness other women have been called to and we question ourselves. Have we been left in the dust? Have we been forgotten?

Mary was called to be the mother of the Savior, King of kings, Lord of lords. Mary, conceived without sin, to bear the Son of God through her virginity.

To redeem the world through her womb. 

Mary’s yes to to Jesus—her fiat—her selfless gift, renewed the face of the earth. 

God called her and blessed her and sanctioned her. 

Elizabeth fought infertility for most of her long life. She has been scorned for her barren womb. And in her old age, Elizabeth bore a son, not the Son of God, but the man who would pave His way, prepare His path.

Both of these women have been summoned to greatness. To obedience. To service. 

Both of these women are beloved and cherished and held. 

Both of these women are handmaids of the Lord, beacons of life, hope, redemption.

Mary, to bear a king. Elizabeth, to bear His cousin. 

Elizabeth could have chosen jealousy, insecurity, and frustration. 

Elizabeth could have wished she was called to be the mother of Our Lord. 

But Elizabeth chose joy. 

She saw the beauty of her own vocation. She did not compare her bounty or tally her abundance. 

She did not pine or wish or waste away, frustrated by her own place and calling.

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

I imagine Elizabeth pressing her hand on Mary’s belly, throwing her head back, rejoicing. 

The King is coming. 

“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

The Enemy will poison our hearts against each other, whispering lies of inferiority. Of comparison. 

But we rejoice in spite of these lies, for we have each been blessed with the gift of each other.

God is calling us to goodness, to sacredness. 

To the holiness of today, the delight of this moment. 

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her.