Greetings, You Who Are Highly Favored!

^{Luke 1: 26}In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."  ²⁹Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." Luke 1

Gabriel is mentioned three times in the Bible. He is mentioned in Daniel, in coming to Zechariah, and in coming to Mary.

The history and culture of this time period dictates that Mary was very young - most likely in her teens. We really don't know much for sure. The Bible isn't more specific. When I get to heaven, I want to ask God more about Mary. I often with the Bible would have said more about her. She has become such a topic of confusion in religious history. But we do know that God considered her to be highly favored...or one who had obtained grace and blessing from the Lord.

I hate to fast forward to Mary's songs, but I was intrigued in reading it today about how repeatedly refers to herself as one of humble state. She says that "from now on" all generations will call me blessed. It makes me wonder. What did they call her before? God has a habit of picking the meek and lowly that everyone else overlooks to do great things for Him, and I can't help but wonder how true that was in this case.

With the kids: Try practicing today, telling your kids what God thinks/says about them. "Did you know you were made in God's image?" "Did you know God planned out every little part of you?" "Did you know that God has a purpose just for you?"