Mary did you know

Filly loved the song, “Mary did you know”. But when she watched the movie “Mary”, she saw things in the movie about her life that had been put in, perhaps with an attitude of “artistic license” because they did not seem verifiable. There were no “community notes” in the movie.

Mary was tempted, according to the movie, by a demon. She was put in a place sort of like a convent, when she was of a certain age. The person in charge of the convent, who did not support King Herod, was punished. These events, were in the movie, that Filly had never seen in the bible.

But whether or not this interpretation was completely accurate, what Filly did understand, about the movie, was that the story of Jesus, and his birth, was a traumatic event for Mary, and would have been for any woman at that time if they had a baby without being legitimately with a man.

The women were stoned to death. That was why Mary had to go stay with a distant aunt so she would not be questioned. That was why Mary had to flee when she was about to deliver. But when, in the bible, the crowd wanted to stone the adulterous women, Jesus said that the person without sin, be the first to cast a stone.

That was back in the day. Today we think that stoning woman is barbaric…especially for the “crime” of being pregnant. We think we are listening to Jesus. Times have changed right? But have they?

Today, there are people, the mothers themselves sometimes actually, who are no longer subject to stoning when pregnant, but who also do not think it is barbaric, to put to death the baby, instead. Will history books record this barbarism? Filly wondered? Will it be diminished or dismissed, or will it stand out, like the murder by Herod of all the babies under age two, to prevent the life of Jesus.

Mary did you know, that your baby boy….

Mary did you know
That your baby boy
Would one day walk on water?
Mary did you know
That your baby boy
Would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know
That your baby boy
Has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered
Will soon deliver you

Herod could not “stop life”. People, no matter how conniving, also cannot “stop life”, nor should they try.

Filly remembered that in California, children’s art classes also “took artistic liberties, similar to the makers of the movie “Mary”. They provided “art classes” for children, where human baby dolls, were thrown naked into a pond a pond of water, and then the children had to experience of painted them with paint, and then they went back home after the “class” and left them there.

Growing up, babies were cherished by Filly and her sisters, living in Goldsboro N.C.. Babies were strolled in doll carriages, patted and burped, fed with pretend bottles and diapered. So, there was nothing artistic, or good, or beneficial, Filly thought, about painting babies to look evil like some booths did at the antique mall in Colorado, or leaving them unattended and vulnerable to “drown” like they did in California. Children learn from role modeling.

Little boys currently are not publically encouraged to have pretend guns in public places because they could be thought to be carrying a real weapon and the pretend weapon could cause them great personal harm. In the same way, pretending to kill a baby or pretending that babies are evil or that they do not need protecting, could in real life, do great damage to real people and real babies. If we want to teach, in school not to abuse the power of guns, we need to teach also how to respect the gun as a tool and learn how to use it properly. In the same way, we do not abuse the power of motherhood, and we should teach our children respect for life, and children and babies.

Unfortunately, it seems that there will be some babies and mothers at risk throughout time, and likewise, there are going to be elderly, and minorities, and fringe elements at risk throughout time as well. Society, might initially make mistakes with the choices it makes when dealing with these people, but when each member of society is able to “choose life” like the bible says, they will find it’s crooked places straight. There is beauty in every idea from God. And inspiration, like breathing, helps us choose life.