What I Know for Sure

What’s your favorite Christmas carol?

Is it “Away in a Manger” or “Silent Night?” Maybe it’s “O Holy Night.”

It very well might be “Joy to the World,” since Lifewayworship.com revealed that it was the most popular Christmas song of the year for 2021.

It really is a great song because it celebrates the true spirit of the season: “Joy to the world; the Lord is come.”

Ironically, most people automatically assume that because of my name, it is my favorite carol as well. They love to sing it to me during the holidays – and on lots of other days.

Some of my dearest friends even call me Joy to the World when they address me. I love it! (Or some friends call me Joy Down in my Heart, but that’s a whole other blog!)

Many of my friends and family also buy me lots of Christmas happies with the word JOY emblazoned upon them. I love their gifts, their pet names, and I love that glorious song. But it’s not my favorite Christmas song.

My favorite song did not even make Lifeway’s Top 10 Christmas Carol List for 2021:

“Joy to the World”

“O Come, All Ye Faithful”

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

“The First Noel”

“Angels We Have Heard on High”

“Silent Night, Holy Night”

“O Little Town of Bethlehem”

“Angels from the Realms of Glory”

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

“It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.”

My favorite Christmas song is probably not even considered a proper Christmas carol since it is so modern.

“Mary, Did You Know?’ was written in 1984 by Mark Lowry and then set to music in 1991 by Buddy Greene. That same year, Michael English first recorded and released it on his album. I am pretty sure that all three of those artists were part of the Gaither Vocal Band at the time. And I also think Lowry recorded it too, as well as dozens of other artists, Christian and mainstream alike.

Whatever the case, I love it!

As a mother, I cannot imagine Mary’s journey from that manger to the Cross. She was just a young girl who loved and honored God with her whole heart, and in turn, God honored her with the gift of carrying His Son.

But it wasn’t an easy gift to receive. It’s hard to imagine what she thought or felt, her fears, her joys, her questions – some that are still being answered as we live.

But every single time I hear this song, I cry, like ugly cry. My heart just hurts for Mary, because she probably did not know what would take place in her precious baby’s life.

So, maybe that’s why I love this song so much. Because just like every mother who ever lived, I totally “get” Mary’s bittersweet story. And this precious song, written directly to her, always makes me cry because not so long ago, I was a young momma too.

Even though I had been married for 18 months, and I was not carrying God’s Son, I was still just a kid having a kid when our first son was born.

In fact, both of us were just babies. My husband and I were still not 20 years old, and we were living seven hours away from our families. All we had was each other, so we would not have admitted it to each other, but we were both scared when it came time to have our baby.

I will never forget that first night as a mother when the military hospital staff finally made my husband leave. They brought that babe wrapped in swaddling clothes into my hospital room and left him. There we were, me and my newborn baby boy.

Sheer terror hit me!

What did those doctors and nurses expect me to do? I was just a teenager. Though I had babysat for dozens of kids over hundreds of hours, and though I had helped with my baby brother from the day he was born, I was scared. No, I was terrified!

I looked down at the hard, cold (Did I say hard?) floor of my sterile hospital room, and then I looked down at that innocent baby boy.

What if I dropped him? What if he wiggled and slipped right out of my hands?

It seemed to me that I had no business being alone with this baby. After all, I had just spent 18 hours in labor. Surely, they made a mistake.

I felt like screaming for help. I was not prepared to be a mother.

To be honest, I wanted my own momma!

But, suddenly, in a flash, as I sat in that bed holding my child, I saw forever in front of me. Actually, I saw my son’s forever in front of me. I really did.

I saw that my baby was a gift from God, and somehow, I had to be worthy of that eternal gift. If this little boy was ever going to grow up and serve the God who made him and gave him to me, then I had to totally put my faith in God.

But just about the time I came to that realization, my baby boy started crying loudly, like his little heart was breaking. So, I did what mothers do. I gathered him close, cuddled him, fed him – and gave him my whole heart.

Yep! Right there in that cold, lonely, sterile environment, I chose to love on my baby and just trust God to help me be this precious boy’s mother.

And He has. Through good days, bad days, and the worst days of all.

The thing is, in that sacred, quiet moment as a brand-new mom, I could not immediately see the details of those “worst days” that stretched ahead of us. Though I sensed they would come, I had no clue as to what they would entail.

Even that lack of knowledge was God’s gift of mercy and love to me.

And it was His mercy and love given to Mary as well. For even though she really did not know the entire bloody, beautiful story of her baby’s mission for all mankind, she did know the God Who knew the end from the beginning. And that was all she needed to know in those first moments as a new mother.

In that stable, long, long ago, I have to believe that by faith in God, Mary did what I did, and what many new mothers do, she just decided to love her precious baby boy and let God guide her as His mother.

So, she gathered the Son of God close, cuddled Him, fed Him – and gave Him her whole heart.

And I do know that was the best decision any of us could ever make.

Won’t you give Him your heart today?