This sculpture by Margaret Adams Parker is at Virginia Theological Seminary. It is Mary, pregnant with Jesus, and her cousin Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist. “He has filled the hungry with good things” is part of Mary’s song of praise to God. The verse concludes “and the rich he has sent empty away.” As I sit near these wise women today, with some of my own wise women, I am struck with a new understanding.
What if the good things are not things at all, but dreams planted by God, hopes for a better future, and faith that love prevails? Mary’s social standing and economic situation did not improve when she became pregnant, but still she recognized the blessing of being filled with love itself, God’s own child. She ached to see how God’s love would grow and be manifest in the world. She was amazed to be a part of it.
The rich were not sent away empty when Mary became pregnant, or when Jesus was born, or when Jesus died and was resurrected, or any time since. The rich are still here. And so are the hungry. And lots and lots of people anywhere in between.
Are you hungry for good things? Are you open to what God is planting in you? Or are you too full of what the world has to offer to wonder, to dream, to imagine?
My prayer today is to be hungry for good things. And to let them grow in me until they pour out blessing on this world.