Luke 1:48 NLT

'For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.'

It’s easy to feel invisible in everyday life. We disappear among thousands of people living a life like ours. We share similar patterns of work, commuting, leisure, shopping, and return home. We are one among a throng whose names we shall never know.

Mary lived long before mass media. A teenager with a life just beginning, on the verge of getting married and assuming life would unfold for her as it had for her mother and her grandmother before that. But suddenly Mary is projected to the forefront of history. An angelic visitation, a divine request and a split-second agreement ensured her life would forever remain in the spotlight, her anonymity stripped away as she is prepared to be called “blessed” by each subsequent generation.

You may feel your life is caught up on a treadmill that speeds up throughout this Advent season. Yet, like Mary, God has invited you to embrace and serve his purpose on the earth. Your anonymity disappeared the moment you said yes to God, for God knows you personally (Psalm 139). What’s more, God can distinguish you from among all his disciples (Luke 12:7). God has and is taking notice of you. So don’t think your life is simply passing you by. Take hold of it and seek to live it entirely dedicated to God.

We know of Mary’s role as the mother of Jesus, yet we discover little of the ways she encouraged and supported Jesus from his birth through his active years of ministry. It may well be you have a clear recollection of a time when God was with you in a special way. But God is still with you, even if your sense of his presence or the nature of your service appears less obvious than before. God is and will continue to take notice of you and remain committed to your emergence into the person you were always intended to be. This may include harsh realities as well as warm encouragement.

QUESTION: Do you find it hard to accept the truth that you are known and deeply loved by God?

PRAYER: Thank you, Jesus, that you came and took notice of me and gave me life and purpose.