Comments on: How shall this be?

By: Sue

Sue — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:16:30 +0000

This is a simply beautiful, thoughtful, and thought-provoking post. Thank you!

By: Annie

Annie — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:42:27 +0000

Kay, I want to add my words to Melissa’s in saying how sorry I am to hear about your almost Job-like year. Thank you for your honesty.I’ll hope right along with you that the coming year will bring more peace and comfort.

FaithNotFear, thanks for sharing your Luke 2 insights. It’s one of my favorite parts of the season, the turning again to the same story we’ve heard over and over and gleaning something different.

Heidi, yes. Amen.

FoxyJ, Stay warm!!

Melissa & M&M, thank you.

Merry Christmas, Segullah friends!

By: Melissa M.

Melissa M. — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:21:39 +0000

Kay, so sorry to hear about your miscarriage! I hope peace and healing will come in their time, and that you will find solace this Christmas season. You have had a difficult year, indeed.

Annie, thank you for this post—I’ve loved reading it and all of the comments. Like Jenny, I’m trying to learn to “be still, and know that I am God”—that scripture has become a mantra for me this year.

Thanks for giving me much to ponder as I head off into the frigid morning to do Christmas shopping—I need to be reminded of the reason for the season.

By: Kay

Kay — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:24:34 +0000

“How shall this be” has been my thought all year. Years come and go and some are harder than others, this one takes the biscuit. Among other things we have had a break in, a flood, 5 months unemployment, my husband becoming Bishop, and my losing our much wanted baby at 12 weeks recently just days after telling everyone about the pregnancy. I do not understand it, I cannot begin to fathom why. I just have to hope that there are reasons that one day I can understand and accept. Trusting in the Lord is what I know is right, right now I can barely speak to him though.

By: m&m

m&m — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:08:41 +0000

Just wanted to say thanks for the post. Beautiful.

By: FoxyJ

FoxyJ — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:42:04 +0000

I’m 32 weeks pregnant, so definitely thinking about Mary. Lately my ‘how shall this be?’ has been with buying a house; it seems like such a small concern, but we really felt strongly that we should buy it. We were supposed to close in October, but delays keep coming up. Our rental that we’re living in has been one disaster after another (currently a faulty furnance that keeps shutting off and has been doing it for a week). It seems like a small thing, since we have a home, but I’m getting anxious for a comfortable place with room for all of us before I have this baby. I guess I’m getting a small taste of how Mary felt and I should remember that even if I’m still here in the ‘stable’ it will be OK! (I’ll just use extra blankets, LOL)

By: Heidi

Heidi — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:54:25 +0000

I wonder on a daily basis why God chose to send my last two kids so close together, with the older of the two being so incredibly busy and needy. On the really super hard days (like today) it helps to remember that God is in charge, and even things that seem impossible and overwhelming and crazy can work out in the end…and can be guided by His hand in the process.

On another note entirely, I love the idea that we need to have faith in Jesus Christ during times of trial, not faith in ourselves, or faith in our plans, or faith in the timing or outcome we want. Just pure and simple faith that our “How shall this be?” pleas will be heard and answered by a loving God.

By: Faith.Not.Fear

Faith.Not.Fear — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:53:11 +0000

I don’t think it’s an accident that you wrote about this at the same time as I have been reading Luke 2!
The amazing thing for me was to read about the shepherds, and their enthusiastic response to the news. We have a missionary in the field, and I couldn’t help thinking that he was indeed spreading the good news like the shepherds did this Christmas!
And then to read on, past the part I learned from “Charlie Brown’s Christmas,” on to how the Savior’s mission was witnessed to Mary and Joseph at the temple, how the Savior began His mission in the temple… hmm, I’m seeing a pattern.
Reading what John the Baptist taught each group of people who were seeking to do God’s will; reading Luke’s account of Christ’s baptism; seeing connections in Joseph’s genealogy to names I recognized; and ultimately seeing Adam identified as a “son of God.”
That thrilled me, and humbled me — if Adam,who is our common father, is a son of God, then we are God’s children, too!
Wow! All that in two chapters I haven’t read fully in years! I need to read the Christmas story more often than once a year, and I need to read about and remember Christ even more!
Thank you for your post!

By: Annie

Annie — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:24:24 +0000

p.s. Selwyn, well done! I’m off to look at the links…

By: Annie

Annie — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:46:31 +0000

Jendoop, definitely. Segullah’s first craft kit!

Mormonhermitmom, No, not your imagination…that’s often true, I think. Marriage, for example, is one big leap of faith IMO. Best of luck in your new location & happy unpacking.

Mommy dearest, thank you so much for the link to that gorgeous painting. It is stunning and a nice companion to the one posted here. I can see a raw, honest quality in Mary’s face that does (you’re right) stop you in your tracks. I’m on the east coast so maybe I’ll take a field trip to see it in person. (p.s. “every painter and his cousin Leonardo did one” made me laugh out loud.)