“How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about the rule of three, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? how can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No. A woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness.”

G.K. Chesterton, What is Wrong with the World

I discovered this quote in a wonderful little article called “Motherhood as Vocation,” by Kate Harris. I’m not a stay-at-home parent and you can say what you will about “a woman’s function,” but perhaps our exclusion of motherhood as the vocation it really is has knocked our societal role-defining off kilter. We can thank Chesterton and Harris for addressing us on this matter.

We can thank another mother, too. When Mary, the mother of Jesus, heard the angel deliver his seemingly impossible, earth-shattering, reputation-breaking, life-altering message, Mary simply replied, “I am the Lord’s servant.”

Of course there is the Magnificat that followed, but she began with, “I am the Lord’s servant.” I like that. It’s bold. It’s submissive. It mixes humility and service with bravery and leadership. Here Mary says – without even knowing the implications – that she will love the Lord her God with all her heart, mind, soul and strength, and her neighbor as herself.

A perfect response to being called.

And for the next 30 years prior to Jesus’ ministry, Mary undertook the gigantic, laborious vocation of being “everything to someone.” I doubt it was glamorous. Few jobs are. But it was significant, if for no other reason than God called her to do it.

Evangelicals and Protestants have often downplayed Mary as a way of rebutting the importance Catholics place on her. With our dismissal, however, we miss so much about this key historical figure. Well, here’s a small treat for you.

Book Giveaway

My friend, L.L. Barkat, (She’s coming to Jubilee!) is doing a book giveaway this week for Scot McKnight’s, The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus. I read the book and really enjoyed it. Now you could possibly get a copy for free.

Go quickly to check out L.L.’s book giveaway because it ends this Thursday, October 8 at 6 p.m. EST.