Mary, did you know?

Before yesterday, I had seriously never given Mary a lot of thought.

I mean sure, I knew that she was Jesus' mother and she was a virgin and cattle were lowing and all that stuff. But about her? Not really.

Yesterday at church we had a Christmas concert. Our church is small and our singers all have such a joy in what they do that I always feel uplifted when they are done.

A soloist sang a song from Mary's perspective. I wish I could remember the lyrics or even what the song was called (and if someone could help me out that would be awesome), but I can't because I was crying so hard.

I cry in church. It's sort of my thing.

Something about how he just had one night to be her baby and he has his whole life to be our savior? I can't remember. All I remember is that I bawled like an infant and my little son and little daughter, on either side of me, held onto me to comfort me, so I wouldn't cry anymore.

Later at the grocery store, I encountered two little children with their mother. The children looked to be about three years old. Maybe they were twins, I'm not sure. But everyone they came upon they would say, "EXCUSE ME!", even if the person they were excusing themself from was absolutely nowhere near them.

I thought they were fabulous.

I said to the little girl, "You have very nice manners".

The little boy then said, "EXCUSE ME!"

I told him, "You have very nice manners too!"

The mother scowled at me.

I just can't leave well enough alone so I said, "You know, they are so sweet. They have such good manners and they are so adorable".

And do you know what she said to me?

"You want 'em? You can have 'em."

I was shocked. I mean, completely stunned.


Later I thought about that lady. Maybe she was the nanny or a really mean aunt. And if she was the mother? I tried to tell myself that she was just having a bad day. We all have bad days sometimes and when you are a mother of two really small children sometimes those bad days seem to hit really, really hard. I know. I understand. We've all had those moments.

But I just wish. I just wish she could understand.



The days are long but the years are short.

Give them just a little time. Let them be who they are. You only get them for such a short, short while.


You may not be like Mary and know that your child had a greater purpose. You may just be trying to get through the day, like I am most of the time. One day your kid will probably decide that he wants his milk in his cereal to be brown and pour a huge bunch of chocolate milk mix into his cereal bowl and get it all over your white table and your white wall and your white floor while you are upstairs getting ready for work. And you'll cry and you'll be frustrated and you'll be having a horrible day.


But the next day? It will be okay.
The next week? It will all be clean and you won't even think about it.
The next month? There won't be any evidence to remind you.
The next year? You'll laugh about it when you think about it.


You don't know how long you'll get to have them. They are more important than the crap they leave on the walls or if they don't push their chair up when they leave the table or if they forget to flush.

They are so much more.


Cherish them.


You just never know.