By Lori Tyler
Luke 1:46b-55
I don’t know about you, but I love Christmas carols. They are what make the Christmas season so special and memorable. They remind me of growing up, singing these very same songs at the candlelight service with my family. Can you imagine Christmas without Christmas carols? Wouldn’t it be a tragedy if the first Christmas had no music to announce Christ’s coming?
Another beautiful song of this season is found in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. I am thankful Luke included this song of Mary for us to read. It is sometimes referred to as the Magnificat, which is a Latin term meaning, “to magnify.” Even though Jesus Christ has not been born yet, Mary wants to sing His praises and magnify His name. She reveals here that true worship of God begins with the spirit. It is the understanding of who God is, what He has done, and all that He has given us. This alone should cause us to sing. You may not have a good voice. You may not have a poetic way of saying things. That doesn’t matter because God made you and He loves to hear you sing and give praise to His glory. So this Christmas season, what do you give to the God who has everything? You give Him praise and thanks.
As you offer this gift of praise to God, in return you will be filled with the same peace and rest within your heart that Mary experienced when she trusted God’s magnificent plan for her life. She could easily have wept and mourned when she learned that she had been chosen for this humanly impossible responsibility. Yet she turned her sorrow into gladness and rejoiced in God’s overwhelming love for her. Trust God’s plan for your life this Christmas season and rest in the gift of his son, Jesus Christ. You will experience a peace that passes all understanding.