Music plays an important role in creating the “magic” of the Christmas season. As the temperature drops where I live in Wisconsin and the days get shorter, songs breathe life into the season, filling me with joy, peace, and security. There’s something about a Christmas hymn that especially warms my spirit during one of the darkest times of the year. I can’t help feeling joyful as I sing “Joy to the World.” “Silent Night” stills my heart with heavenly peace, and it’s hard not to bask in the glory of “Angels We Have Heard on High.” That joy-filled security was certainly present within the virgin Mary at the news given by God’s angel Gabriel. This young woman from the humble town of Bethlehem had been given one of the greatest honors from God. Mary was blessed to bear the Son of God and usher her Savior into the world.

Such a noble task, however, would not always be filled with joy. She was not yet married to her fiancé, Joseph, and now she had to break the news that she was pregnant, not with just any child but God’s own Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. The situation seemed too outlandish to believe, and Joseph himself was not immune to walking by sight rather than by faith. He would struggle with this news to the point that, had God not intervened, he would have called off their engagement and abandoned her (Matthew 1:19). To make matters worse, the people in her community would eventually find out about Mary’s pregnancy, and they would find it easier to believe the child in her was made out of wedlock—a deadly faux pas in Jesus’ day—instead of by the power of the Holy Spirit. Although Mary had God’s direct promise, suspicion would still arise.

Yet as she faced a potentially dark future, Mary did not dim her confidence in her Lord’s faithfulness. Her reaction to the angel’s message was not one of fear but of praise. Moved by the Spirit, Mary ushered in the first of many Christmas carols that proclaim God’s unending presence, peace, and goodwill on earth.

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.” (Luke 1:46-49)

Her song proclaimed the glory of being chosen to carry God, her Savior, in her own womb. Each stanza built off the assurance that her Lord had not forgotten her and her ancestors. She composed hope in the Mighty One who had not forsaken the humble and lowly.

This is the glory you also sing when you believe in Jesus, because you also are blessed with the greatest honor to be called a child of God. At Christmas, you and I are reminded that the King of all creation made himself nothing to give us everything. We are assured of God’s faithfulness, confident that Jesus is the embodiment of the promise of salvation that all Scripture points to. In our darkest moments, the Light of the world (Jesus) illuminates a path of hope, peace, and joy that leads us to his cross and empty tomb. As we face the darkness in this life, let us lift our voices in praise and bask in the warmth of our God who came to earth for us.