My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness

    My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
    my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
    for you, Lord, have looked with favor on your lowly servant.
    From this day all generations will call me blessed:
    you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,
    and holy is your name.

    You have mercy on those who fear you, 
    from generation to generation.

    You have shown strength with your arm 
    and scattered the proud in their conceit,
    casting down the mighty from their thrones 
    and lifting up the lowly.
    You have filled the hungry with good things 
    and sent the rich away empty.

    You have come to the aid of your servant Israel, 
    to remember the promise of mercy,
    the promise made to our forebears, 
    to Abraham and his children forever.
When I found out this was the song that I was writing a devotional about, I immediately drew a blank. These last few months have been hard for me, and if I’m being honest, I just didn’t have anything in me to relate to this song. I’ve not been feeling the joy, or the peace, or the gratefulness Mary exudes in this song. How was I going to write something warm and fuzzy when I’m just not feeling it?
Then, I thought, “You know, there are a lot of people who don’t feel joyous at Christmas time, maybe I don’t have to write something warm and fuzzy to be able to relate to people at Christmas.” Life has seasons of joy and seasons of sadness, seasons of peace and seasons of fear, seasons of feeling grateful and seasons of despair. Yeah, right now I’m in a season of pain and sadness, but I have to remember; this is a season… It will pass.
Mary was in a season of joy and gratefulness. I can feel it radiate in every line of this song. I’ve been there before. I remember times I’ve felt that way. Mary had her seasons of pain and sadness as well, but this wasn’t one of them. When I feel her emotion in these words, it gives me hope that this storm, this season will pass. I’ve lived long enough to feel the truth of that belief.
God sees me where I’m at, and He is great and mighty and faithful no matter what state of mind I’m in. If I can just stand firm in my belief in Him, I know I will get through this. He is our strength and comes to our aid. He’s merciful and keeps his promises. He lifts up the lowly. Just like Mary said.
Lord, sometimes the joy of the season is the last thing we’re feeling. Sometimes life gets in the way and blocks our view. I pray you’d help us to stand firm in you during these times, knowing you will be faithful and will bring us through. Thank you for loving us where we are at and help us to remember our season of joy is coming. Stand firm. Amen.