Take That Gift Back!

Michelangelo's Piata

Good thing I wasn’t the mother of Jesus! Had a wise man given my toddler myrrh, I might have shoved it into the giver’s hand, and shouted “Take that gift back!” Myrrh? Burial spice? An appropriate baby gift? 

I’ve thought a lot about Mary’s pondering…so much so that I asked hubby to look up “ponder” in the original language and context of that Scripture. One definition read “conflict.” Indeed Mary must have wrestled, knowing her newborn came into the world to die. Of course, all of us eventually die, but how many mothers’ thoughts go there while beholding their newborn?

Over the years I’ve known three women who received dooming news before their babies’ births. They still looked forward to holding their little ones but shed many tears. They cradled with hearts humming lullabies in minor keys. They treasured each moment with a mourning love. Sobering.

Mary likely felt the way those moms did. No, she didn’t return the myrrh. She accepted it, knowing her son would need it. What must have been awful for her and Jesus? Thirty-three years later beholding each other from different vantage points of that cross...the moment they both dreaded yet accepted, knowing the will of The Father.

Good thing Mary accepted that gift, and grateful The Son Of God did too. He rose again to give us all another gift~eternal life. I chose that gift when I asked Jesus into my life, and there's no taking that back. I'm His child for keeps. Hallelujah!