The other day I listened to a young lad as he gave his rendition of “Mary Did You Know?” that left me ugly crying. And before you go off imagining the worst, I did not cry because he sung horribly. Not at all. He sang well, very expressively and enunciating every word clearly. He was even backed by a couple of instruments – although I forget which ones. He definitely made more than his guardians proud of his performance. So why the ugly cry? Well … that was the first time I heard the lyrics of the song.
In my defense, however weak, I admit that the first few times I heard this song, I remember thinking “Silly song! Of course, Mary knew. She was visited by an angel and he told her! Pshaw!” And I would tune off after that so that for a long time the only phrases I knew in that song were “Mary did you know” and probably “Did you know that your baby boy –!” and nothing else.
(If you think that this is ridiculous, then I am not sure which version of me you may have met. Probably not the version who found out – at eighteen – how to pronounce the word pea!)
Did you know?
But I digress. Back to the lyrics from the first verse of the song as sung by Pentatonix.
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy
Has come to make you new?
This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you?
For the very first time, I listened to all the words of this song and heard it. My breath caught in my throat and I could feel the tears well up in my eyes. I blinked furiously trying not to cry but I knew that trying not to cry was futile because of a connection that I had made in my mind. When that young lad sang “Mary did you know?”, he might have as well sang “Carol did you know?” You see, it is one thing to wonder if Mary knew whether her son, Jesus, was the second Adam and he would do all the amazing things that he did and quite another for me to think the same of my kids.
Take a deep breath and try it out. Sing the next verse and insert your own name instead.
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Will calm the storm with his hand?
Did you know?
Again, did Mary know? You would, if you are Kenyan, say “She knew but she did not know know” Which basically means that she knew that Jesus was the son of the great I AM but she did not know the specifics of the miracles he would perform, the disruption he would cause and that he would reveal a relational God. She did not know all of that, but she did know something. And this is what tugged at my heart… what if she had? Did that knowledge make her treat him differently? Had Nelson Mandela’s, Barrack Obama’s or Wangari Maathai’s mum known who they would become would they have brought them up or even spoken to them differently? If you had an inkling of who your children would be when they grew up, the miracles they will perform, the disruption they would cause or even the wisdom they have to share with the world, would this change how you show up in their lives?
Do you know?
What gives me the boldness to state that your children, those very ones who get on your last nerves are tightly wound up bundles of greatness? These two scriptures come to mind;
‘For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. ‘
Romans 8:19-21 (NIV)
And
‘“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)‘
From these two verses, I read the existence of a need, the birth of the solution and miracles! In the first the need appears as frustration, enslavement and even death and the solution to any of these is a child of God. In the second scripture the need is the partnership between nations and God and the solution is the person who would help heal this rift. The two scriptures are true for your children. Your children were chosen specifically for a special work long before you knew you were carrying them. This work they are to do during their lifetime, is meant to disrupt, it is meant to heal broken bones, broken hearts and broken homes. Your children, by their very existence will bring hope, clarity and vision to lives of those fortunate to be touched by them. Your children’s lives will bring life.
Do you know that these scriptures speak the truth about you mum’s child? YOU?
And that is why I ugly cried.
Have a thoughtful and happy Christmas!