And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

[The shepherds] hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.
Luke 2:6-7,16-19

Dear God, it was a few years ago when I first started to ask “why” regarding the shepherds. Why did you disturb their sleep with this news? Why did you bring them into the loop? Why were they chosen to receive this instead of the local church leaders? And I’ve come up with some thoughts related why them instead of anyone else, but that’s not what I’m looking at today. I’m looking at Mary and how she intersects with their story (or how they intersect with Mary’s story). And the key is found in verse 19: “…but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.”

It was a night she will never forget. She had to give birth in a stable. She was young (let’s not forget she was likely a child by today’s standards), she was tired, scared, and going through it with a guy she presumably didn’t know as well as she later would. Was there any part of both of them that Satan was using to sow doubt about and distrust of the other? Just how scared and alone did Mary feel that night? Then these dirty guys show up. She likely would have smelled them coming if she hadn’t already been in a stable. But these unlikely heroes came in and told Mary, Joseph, and then anyone who would listen about their own angel visit. But they didn’t get just one angel.

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Luke 2:13-14

They go an army of angels! Mary didn’t get an army of angels on her visit with Gabriel. Joseph didn’t get one either. But these guys saw an army of angels. This was big time!! This was God entering the world. This was an affirmation to Mary that God knew exactly where they were. She didn’t have to worry about whether or not they had done something wrong because they were in a stable. You affirmed to her that you knew she was in a stable. You sent shepherds to her to let her and to Joseph. And as Jesus grew up she could go to this memory and apparently she did that often. She probably did it the day the wise men came. She probably thought about the shepherds a few days later when you sent her more affirmations at the temple in Jerusalem (more on that tomorrow). She probably through about them when Joseph woke her up in the middle of the night and told her to get Jesus ready for a trip to Egypt. She probably thought about the shepherd visit when she heard about Herod killing all the baby boys back in Bethlehem. She probably thought about the shepherds when they were frantically looking for Jesus when he was 12. She probably thought about them as she asked Jesus to make some wine. She probably thought about them when she stood outside a home, worried that Jesus had lost his mind. She probably thought about the shepherds when she saw Jesus crucified. And she probably thought about the shepherds after the resurrection. This memory stayed in her heart for the rest of her life and was always a comfort to her.

Father, help me to remember all of the affirmations you have given to me through the years. My wife and I were talking yesterday about some of the things we’ve prayed for over the years that seemingly haven’t been answered. We ended up also talking about some of the things you’ve done to honor our prayers and say, “Yes,” to us. I told her that I have faith you are working things out the way you want because I’ve seen you work powerfully through some of my prayers (especially if I fast about something) and since I know I have prayed and fasted about some things that I haven’t seen answered yet, I am confident you are doing it all in your time. So I reiterate that faith to you right now. I trust you. I trust you. I trust you. Help my distrust. And help me do today what you would have me to do.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen