Journeying with Mary Day Thirteen

Day Thirteen - Friday 9th December 2011

And so we find ourselves without the gospels to guide us.
There is a gap.
A time when all Mary and Joseph had was Trust in God.

We know Mary went to be with Elizabeth for several months, but are sure that there must have been a very pregnant and unwed Mary in the community for some months, taken as wife to Joseph. No angels are said to have visited; no more guidance given. Mary, and Joseph, had nothing but their faith in God and their knowledge of their role in a grand plan to sustain them.

Mary had to rely on Joseph, in a patriarchal society, he was the only one who could protect and defend her; she had to have trust in this man God had tasked alongside her.

To trust entirely on God; this is trust indeed; a trust I have had to find in times of feeling abandoned; a trust which I understand.  My awe for Mary increases.

And so in this pause we can perhaps think of how we might feel abandoned and alone, away from God. Perhaps as in this image, we feel in a desolate place with no guidance on hand. Today let's remind ourselves that God is always with us, we just need trust that he has our safe.

Prayer of the day
Father you do not always seem so close, we do not always feel so connected to you, we have times when we find it hard to know how you can hold all people of all time in your care.  Yet we know it to be true.  Thank you Lord for the reminder we need.  Amen.