Mary Teaches Us About Flexibility

Jesus mother, Mary, was an amazing woman who throughout her life exhibited great flexibility in following God’s instructions. She believed Gabriel, God’s angel, when he told her she would be the mother of God’s Son, even as a virgin. Toward the end of her pregnancy with Jesus, she had to travel with her new husband, Joseph, to Bethlehem to register for a census. The second-to-the-last thing a woman wants to do before giving birth is to take up stakes and move, especially when the travel is by donkey back. But she did. When she got to Bethlehem with Joseph, there was no decent place for them to stay. They ended up staying the night in a stable. The very-last-thing a woman wants to do is give birth in an uncomfortable and dirty place. But she did. Mary was flexible in other ways too. She allowed Gabriel to name her new son. When King Herod threatened Jesus’ young life, she relocated to the foreign land of Egypt, to return some time later when it was safe. Years later, at a wedding feast in Cana, she persuaded Jesus to intervene in a miraculous way, and then stepped back, flexible to how He would respond. She gave firm instructions to the wait staff to be flexible too, and obedient to His instructions. And at the end of Jesus’ life, Mary allowed Jesus to place her needs and her future care in the hands of the apostle John.