Don't get me wrong, never would I EVER accuse the Blessed Mother of being anything but wonderful, holy and gentle...but it finally dawned on me the other night, as I lay in bed unable to sleep that I finally shared someting in common with our Blessed Mother. I struggle daily with not being a calm, gentle, quiet wife and mother, who looks constantly at Mary to be my example of how a wife and mother should me. I feel like I fail on every count. Mary said yes to God about having Jesus, even though she was very young, not married yet and was facing a stoning if anyone found out. She then rode on a donkey, nine months pregnant, had baby Jesus in a smelly stable, then when Joseph found out they could not return home for fear of Herold killing Jesus, she had to leave family and friends beind to make a new life in Nazareth.
Then Jesus gets lost while they are visiting the temple and makes no bones about it to her and Joseph when they ask why he disappeared. Never, ever, do we hear a complaint from Mary about all this. In fact we hear more about Joseph who was given dreams about what to do about all this. But Mary never says anything again after that, "yes," until the temple issue comes about.
It's not until Jesus is like 30 years old do we EVER hear that Mary said anything to Him. At a friend's wedding, when the couple run out of wine, Mary, being a mom, and as all moms know, you find out these things, she found out about the wine trouble and went to Jesus. "Son, they are out of wine."
And quite surprisingly, at least to me, Jesus answers her back with, "Woman, that's really isn't my problem now, is it?"
But Mary had insisted. Or as I would label it now as "mom nagged" about it.
What joy! I laid in bed and pondered on this simple discovery. Mary had actually nagged her son about something. Although most historians and bible people don't list it like, I've seen the face and heard the sigh enough to recognize the words Jesus said to his mom that day, "Woman, my time has not yet arrived." It sounded to every bit to me like he was sighing and rolling his eyes at his mom. I know that sigh!!!
Having just come off a day of nagging our son who lives on his own, that he really needed to get a new car battery before the snow/cold armagedon of 2014 hit the Midwest, or he'd be stuck at his job, late at night in the cold. My son, who can manage very well most of the time without interference from his mother, will on occasion stiffen up and refuse to budge when he feels Mom has gone a little overboard on the worry factor. I have finally come to warn him of impending text messages about the tornado that is headed our way, the holy day coming up, his sister from California is coming to town and he'd better make time to visit, or a multitude of other "mom" nags, into a "Obimom Alerts"
Obimom Alerts are text messages sent to any of my kids when I am worried about their welfare and I know they have plenty of common sense, but I still feel the need to warn, remind, or alert them to impending potential doom, illness or problems.
But now, I finally felt I knew Mary a little better. She had actually nagged her son to help someone! I felt like Ralphie in the Christmas Story, holding his Red Rider BB Gun as he fell asleep, smiling, content. It was okay to nag my kids on occasion, because Mary had done it!
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