BROADCASTS.com

b'

A deep personal connection with someone who "gets us," brings us joy as we share the challenges and joys of life together. Make one if you don\\u2019t have one. It\'s one of the best Christmas gifts you can ever give - or get.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 81. Today is the second of our December series, Relationships at Christmas.

I love the phrase, \\u201che gets me,\\u201d or \\u201cshe gets me.\\u201d You hear it in romantic chick flick comedies a lot. Not so much in the Bruce Willis genre of I-have-to-kill-the-bad-guys-or-else-the-world-will-be-destroyed movies.

I love the \\u201che gets me\\u201d phrase because it captures a feeling of connection, oneness and understanding between two people in just 3 little words. It describes a relationship where you don\\u2019t have to explain yourself much, because someone knows you so well, so deeply, words aren\\u2019t necessary.

Those of us who have a relationship like this treasure it. But about the rest of us? How can we get this gift of connection where we can say of another person, \\u201cthey get me?"

The Christmas story found in the Bible gives us an example of such a relationship. Let\\u2019s see what we can learn from it that we can apply in our own relationships.

Elizabeth and Mary - A Deep Personal Connection

The story is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 1, and verses 26-45.

The same angel who visited Zechariah visits Mary, both Zechariah and Mary were scared, and he tells them \\u201cDon\\u2019t be afraid\\u201d

What do we know of Mary? She was a teenager, no older than 14, from Nazareth,

Mary comes from Nazareth

Located some fifteen miles west of the Sea of Galilee and twenty miles east of the Mediterranean Sea, Nazareth had a population between two and four hundred people during the time Jesus lived there.

Not known for anything significant, except the childhood home of Jesus.\\xa0 He was known as \\u201cJesus of Nazareth."

Up to the time of Jesus, Nazareth was a small podunk village, not known for anything it had to offer the world. In the Gospel of John, Nathaniel, in reference to Jesus asks \\u201cCan anything good come out of Nazareth?\\u201d

In a town this size, everyone knows everyone and each others\\u2019 business

An Angel visits Mary

The angel Gabriel visits Mary and tells her even though she is a virgin, she\\u2019s going to get pregnant and as a result, give birth to the savior of the world - a humanly impossible feat that defies the science. He then tells Mary of another humanly impossible feat: her elderly relative Elizabeth is pregnant too!

I wonder if this is why God orchestrated John the Baptist\\u2019s birth late in the life of his parents. To give Mary a companion, a fellow traveler, who was also dealing with the humanly impossible. Elizabeth and Mary were going to be in it together. They were not going to trust the science alone. They would have each other. What a deep personal connection!

In just 3 days after Mary\\u2019s visit from Gabriel, she hurries to her relative Elizabeth\\u2019s house. She may have been her aunt or a cousin. How did Mary explain this to her own mother? How did she explain her absence to Joseph her fianc\\xe9? Why did she go? God, through his Spirit told her in so many words, \\u201cYou go, girl!\\u201d

Mary visits Elizabeth

When Mary greeted Elizabeth in Zechariah\\u2019s home there was much joy in the house. Elizabeth was over the moon excited with Mary\\u2019s arrival. How affirming Elizabeth was to Mary at a time when Mary needed some connection with another human being who had a sense of what was going within her, both within her body and her mind.

The text says Mary stayed with Elizabeth for 3 months. Elizabeth was already 6 months pregnant, so what does that mean? The math tells me Mary was probably around for the birth of John the Baptist. What great preparation for 14-year-old Mary for what would happen to her in 9 months. What great preparation for her pregnancy itself in going through Elizabeth\\u2019s pregnancy with her.

I wonder what Zechariah thought? Here this young relative, maybe a cousin or niece of his wife moves in for 3 months. What was that like for him, for the two women, Elizabeth and Mary?

Elizabeth\\u2019s pregnancy was a mystery and a miracle to her friends and neighbors. But Mary\\u2019s pregnancy was a source of shame to her friends, family, and people in the village of Nazareth where everyone knew each others\\u2019 business. Mary needed Elizabeth more than Elizabeth needed Mary.

Elizabeth, the older woman, blesses Mary the younger woman.

It doesn\'t always work this way

Janet worked for a time with Mom\\u2019s n More, a ministry at a church we used to attend. She and other older women were supposed to be mentors to younger women. But the younger women almost always relied on their peers for advice about dealing with the many issues a young mom deals with. Rarely did they go to someone like Janet who had been down that path before and knew where the booby traps were hidden and how to deal with them.

Mary goes on to praise God, which we\\u2019ll save for the next episode.

But for now, what a beautiful and intimate personal connection between Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth knew what was happening to Mary even before her visit because God\\u2019s spirit told her, not Mary. Just as the Spirit of God told Mary what was happening with Elizabeth.

And the Spirit of God still works that way today, putting people together, connecting them with each other in a way that advances God\\u2019s plan for the whole world. Not just for one\\u2019s individual happiness.

The Holy Spirit still prompts us to reach out and connect with people of his choosing.

What a great Christmas gift of a deep personal connection for both of these women before the very first Christmas. This intimate personal connection was a gift from God to both Elizabeth and Mary.

If you forget everything else, here\\u2019s the one thing I hope you remember from today\\u2019s episode

Giving a Christmas gift of a deep personal connection with someone who gets us, who understands us, is one of the best Christmas gifts you can ever give - or get.

Here\\u2019s what we can all do in response to today\\u2019s program

Who can we try to connect with who \\u201cgets us?\\u201d Who understands us?

If there\\u2019s no one on the horizon who can do that for us, who is someone we can extend ourselves to in an effort to \\u201cget them.\\u201d To understand them?

Who might the Holy Spirit be telling us we could be an Elizabeth to? What in your experience has prepared you to be an Elizabeth to someone else?

Who is someone with the cards stacked against them that we can come alongside to let them know you will be with them, in whatever they are dealing with, that you will be there with them together? You\\u2019ll walk through things together. Even if it\\u2019s shame.

As always, another thing you could do is let me and your fellow listeners know what resonated with you about today\\u2019s episode. You can share your thoughts in the \\u201cLeave a Reply\\u201d box at the bottom of the show notes. Or you can send them to me in an email to john@caringforothers.org.

A related resource that might interest you

045: Seven Relationship Lessons from The Greatest Christmas Movie Ever Made

Closing

I hope your thinking was stimulated by today\\u2019s show, to both reflect and to act. So that you will find the joy God intends for you through your relationships. Because after all, You Were Made for This.

Our Relationship Quote of the Week

There are people who take the heart out of you, and there are people who put it back. - Elizabeth David

That\\u2019s all for today. See you next week. Goodbye for now.

You Were Made for This is sponsored by Caring for Others, a missionary care ministry. We depend upon the generosity of donors to pay our bills.\\xa0 If you\'d like to support what we do with a secure tax-deductible donation, please click here. We\'d be so grateful if you did.