Christmas 2025: The Lessons We Learn When We Listen

“Who is the man who fears the Lord [with awe-inspired reverence and worships Him with submissive wonder]? He will teach him [through His word] in the way he should choose. His soul will dwell in prosperity and goodness, and his descendants will inherit the land. The secret [of the wise counsel] of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will let them know His covenant and reveal to them [through His word] its [deep, inner] meaning. My eyes are continually toward the Lord, for He will bring my feet out of the net.” (Psalm 25: 12-15, AMP)

Currently, as I write this, my one-year-old is “ballerina dancing” on the coffee table to the classical music playing in the room. Her hands are above her head, and she’s making clumsy, wobbly spins with a big, goofy grin. The living room is a mess, a pot of chili is cooling on the kitchen counter from dinner waiting for someone to put it away, and this mama is ready for bedtime.

Nothing is wrong. The kids aren’t misbehaving– except that I’d like the toddler to dance on the floor, not the coffee table– and there is no pressing things that have to be completed in the next hour, but I feel overwhelmed. And a part of me wonders: I wonder if Mary felt this way? 

Obviously, Jesus lived a sinless life, but when He was little, did He press her patience the way toddlers tend to? I want to believe that yes, there were still moments that Mary– the virgin, the chosen mother of God’s Son– was overwhelmed being in the trenches of motherhood. We see in Luke 2, when the boy Jesus pulls a biblical-Kevin McAllister and stays behind in the temple. Scripture actually says that Mary and Joseph couldn’t find Him for THREE DAYS! 

Could you imagine? Your baby that God chose you to raise MISSING for three days?! I can complain about the crazy things my girls do, but they’ve never come close to that. And then when they finally find Him at the temple, Mary admonishes Jesus saying, “Why did you treat me and your father like this? We have been looking for you FOR DAYS.”

And Jesus, as a literal child mind you, looks at his mother and says, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know I have to be in my Father’s house?”

I think I would have had to go on a walk if Mary was me. 

I remember when I was a kid and my mom was head of the church nursery. She always said she loved nursery ministry because as much as you’re trying to teach the kids, they end up teaching you, too. You never know what you’ll learn through the simplicity of a child.

Now, I understand more and more what she meant, but I think children also teach you just by their being children. They teach us to slow down, to enjoy things more, to trust more, and to be patient. In many ways, becoming a mother has held me up to God’s refining fire more than anything else I’ve ever done.

Of course, Mary stood the chance of learning the most from her child, seeing as He was the Messiah and she was one of the sinners He came to save, but it must have felt a little jarring to hear your child come up with spiritual truths that you as a full adult had trouble grasping. 

There was one Sunday where I was having a rough time. The kids were not listening, I had a lot going on emotionally, and being the pastor’s wife there are moments where my backup is in the pulpit and not able to help me. I went to the bathroom to let some of my emotions out, and a few minutes later, Piper found me. She saw I was crying and gave me a hug. When she pulled back, she cupped her little hands around my face and quoted Joshua 1:5, the verse she had been working on memorizing the night before: “God will never leave you alone, mama.” 

From the mouth of my 3 year old, God was speaking to me; reminding me that I am not alone. Not only was God with me, but my daughter, who picks up on a lot more than I give her credit for.

So this Christmas season, as I take in the chaos that is this season of life I’m in, I wonder to myself if Mary felt just as flabbergasted by her weird, little village– of which a small Jesus was a part. When Mary was in the trenches of motherhood with other kids and her firstborn Savior-son, what were the things that she learned from Him? What little lessons did God have just for Mary alone?

And then I think to myself: what lessons is God teaching me, as I take in my one-year-old prima ballerina giving a recital on top of the coffee table?

Tonight, I think He’s teaching me about reverence and wonder. Indeed, I prayed for those chubby little hands and toes. I asked God to make me a mother very fervently, once upon a time. He is reminding me that He is the Teacher, and His lessons can come at any time, through anyone. He is reminding me to keep praying, because these little ones still need so much guidance and discipleship. They need God to draw them near to Him every day, and to grow in them a reverence and wonder of their own for Him– the depths of His Word and the beauty of His covenant of grace.

He is reminding me to put my eyes continually on Him, that He is the Savior who continues to save.

As you read this, your season might be different but the sentiment is the same. You may not be in the trenches of motherhood and dealing with unruly, hyperactive kiddos, but you have your own set of challenges. God is still speaking. He is speaking through other Christians that are in your life. He is speaking through His scriptures. He is speaking through the goodness He has proven over and over again.

We just need to be willing to see our chaos as a happy accident, or a precious gift. God works through all things and He is always teaching, drawing us near, and revealing Himself to us.