In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” —Luke 1:39-45
Joy!
The word “Joy” appears approximately
In Hebrew the word is pronounced “Sem kha.”
The Greek translation of joy is
“The whole thing narrows and narrows, until at last it comes down to a little point, as small as the point of a spear - a Jewish girl at her prayers.” —C. S. Lewis
Mary is not favored for her
“And then what do I do but consistently curse my own lowliness. Obsess about my flaws and shortcomings. Berate myself for my failings and defects of character; for not trying hard enough to become my ideal self. But our failings and weaknesses are God’s perfect entry points. It is our lowliness and our humility, not our strength and not our so-called virtues where God does God’s very best work.” —Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber
Action Step
My Additional Notes: