Lessons from Mary, my Mother

Lessons learned from Mary, my Mother

Lessons from Mary, my Mother

When I was growing up, I remember the first time my parents told my brothers and me that they were not really our parents. I was quite surprised. They told us that the Blessed Virgin Mary was our mother in Heaven and St. Joseph was our father in Heaven. It took me years to understand this concept better. I am still working on it! I have come to realize there are many lessons I can learn from Mary, my mother.

What does it mean that Mary is our mother in Heaven? It means that Mary looks out for us, prays for us, and sets the example for us of faith and trust in God. From our Mother, we can learn to look to Jesus for direction. We can learn to love God more, to love others more, and we can learn how to pray. Mary is a great example and guide for us.

Do what He tells you.

There are so many lessons we can learn from Mary about following God for direction. One of my favorite Bible passages is from the wedding feast at Cana. When the bride and groom run out of wine, Mary asks Jesus to do something about it. Then, she tells the waiters to “do what He tells you.” (John 2:5) Jesus tells them what to do and miraculously changes water into wine.

Mary’s words to the waiters are short and direct, but they are full of meaning. Being immaculately conceived and free from sin, she never did anything outside of the will of God. She knew her role at the wedding, throughout her life, and now as our mother is to point the way to Jesus.

As I read Mary’s words, not only do I read them in the context of the wedding feast, but I understand that I can apply them to my own life as well. I can work better to use her words of “do what He tells you” as a directive in my own life each day.

Mary teaches us to love God.

Mary can help us to love God and others more. When the Archangel Gabriel came to visit Mary and ask her to be the Mother of God, she said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) This is her fiat, he complete YES to God.

Mary’s love for God is shown in her complete Yes that held nothing back. From our mother Mary, we learn this is the way to respond to God-with a complete and total yes, holding nothing back.

After Jesus was born, Mary and Joesph devoted their lives to taking care of Him. They each lived their yes to God every day-not just one yes one time, but many yeses every day and every moment of their lives. I can ask for Mary’s help to say yes to God completely and with love every day, every moment of my life.

We can learn from Mary how to love others.

When we love God with our whole hearts, our love naturally flows to loving others. We see Mary’s love for others in her actions at the wedding feast. She wants to connect others and God together. In her great love for God, she loves the people He created and she wants all of us to know who God is and love Him, too.

Mary also showed her love for others when she went to be with her cousin Elizabeth when Elizabeth was expecting St. John the Baptist. Mary went to serve and help Elizabeth out of love for her.

I can learn from Mary’s example to love and serve others out of love for God.

Pray

How does Mary teach us how to pray? She teaches us to seek God’s will in our lives and to say yes when He calls us. When we spend time in prayer, we can more fully understand who we are as a son or daughter of God and we can discern how He is calling us in our lives.

God’s calls can big-like our vocation. (Like Mary’s call to be the mother of Christ.) God’s calls can also be small-like praying for someone when we suddenly and unexpectedly think of them. (Like Mary asking Jesus to do something to help at the wedding feast.)

We can be inspired and learn from Mary’s example of following God’s will in our lives completely. We need to pray each day to understand more about God, ourselves, and god’s will for us in our lives.

You can find more ideas about this in How to “Pray About It.”

I can learn many lessons from Mary, my Mother.

From the Blessed Virgin Mary, my Mother, I can learn many lessons. I can learn to: look to Jesus for direction in my life, love God more, love others more, and pray more to understand and say yes to God’s will in my life. Mary is an amazing, faithful example and guide for each of her children.

This post is part of a blog hop by Spoken Women, an online community of Catholic women nurturing their creative callings. Click here to view the next post in this series “From My Mother.”