So many wonders
I treasure in my heart.
My soul magnifies the Lord.
He has scattered the proud and lifted up the lowly!

I still find it hard to believe
I was chosen to give birth to God-With-Us.
The wonder of wonders I wake up to each day
is that the Christ Child I hold, change and feed
is here for a while.

The angel, Elizabeth, the shepherds, Simeon, Anna, and the Magi,
all called me blessed.
But when Herod’s men brought down their swords
no one called me blessed,
not now.

So many hardships
came with my blessing–
the noisy, scratchy, cold, stinky stable,
Simeon’s pointed prediction that a sword would pierce my soul too.
And it did,
as we fled in the night,
carrying the grief of the coming massacre,
staving off guilt and responsibility on that slow, precarious journey to Egypt,
arriving exhausted, alone and unknown,
finding a home with words that met blank faces and ways that offend.
We took any job, worked long and hard,
only to be uprooted again
and return to a place
that doesn’t believe us.

I keep waiting for the suffering to end
and fear the wonder will fade,
but both are here for a while–

wonder and hardship
my daily bread,

praise and lament
my daily prayers.

Love is the root of all joy and sorrow.
–Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 – c. 1328)

Credits and References:
Virgin Mary with Jesus by Ignacy Gierdziejewski, National Museum in Warsaw from Creazilla Creative Commons
Here for a While by E.Hizsa, 2024
The Flight into Egypt by James Tissot from the Brooklyn Museum Creative Commons.

© Esther Hizsa, An Everyday Pilgrim, 2024.
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without permission from Esther Hizsa is prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used provided there is a link to the original content and credit is given as follows: © Esther Hizsa, An Everyday Pilgrim 2013-2024.  http://www.estherhizsa.com