Advent Poem - Mary's Song

Mary's Song
by Luci Shaw

Blue homespun and the bend of my breast
keep warm this small hot naked star
fallen to my arms. (Rest …
you who have had so far to come.)
Now nearness satisfies
the body of God sweetly. Quiet he lies
whose vigor hurled a universe. He sleeps
whose eyelids have not closed before.
His breath (so slight it seems
no breath at all) once ruffled the dark deeps
to sprout a world. Charmed by doves' voices,
the whisper of straw, he dreams,
hearing no music from his other spheres.
Breath, mouth, ears, eyes
he is curtailed who overflowed all skies,
all years. Older than eternity, now he
is new. Now native to earth as I am, nailed
to my poor planet, caught
that I might be free, blind in my womb
to know my darkness ended,
brought to this birth for me to be new-born,
and for him to see me mended
I must see him torn.

3 Reasons for Giving Thanks

Three motivations for thanksgiving:

1. Creation – God didn’t have to make you in the first place! Psalm 95:1-7; Psalm 100

“Because man in his pride fails to honor and glorify God as Creator, he also fails to give thanks to Him for His gracious provision. His unbelief is made still worse by his ingratitude. Although God is the source of every good thing that men possess – giving rain, sun, and other natural blessings to the just and the unjust alike (see Matt.5:45; Acts 14:15-17) – the natural man fails to thank Him because he fails to even acknowledge His existence.” MacArthur Commentary on Romans 1-8

2. Salvation – God didn’t have to save you, ya’ know?!

· Temporal "salvations": God “saves” us / rescues us from many things in this life – things like consequences being as bad as they could have been, things like personal disasters or accidents, even the threats of danger and death. These are “salvations” / rescues in our temporal lives that we should give thanks for now and certainly will give thanks for eternally. Check out Psalm 30.

· Eternal Salvation: God saves us eternally. If ever there is a need for a motivation to give thanks to God – simply go back to the cross and humble yourself in his presence. Remember his eternal rescue of you – a sinner, guilty, condemned – now rescued and forever made an heir, a child of the King. Look at the blessings of salvation described in Ephesians 1:3-14.

3. Restoration – God is going to make everything new – you’re not stuck in misery forever! Revelation 11:15-17; Revelation 21:1-5.