39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

I tried to put myself in Mary’s shoes (as best as I could, I’m not a woman, and I’ve never been pregnant). Imagine the confusion, the chaos, the “why me?” thoughts, the potential judgment to come (a pregnant woman who is not married in that culture), the impending shame and reproach, the difficulty, the weight of the responsibility, and so on and so forth. If you had given Mary the choice beforehand, I highly doubt she would have chosen this route for herself. She wouldn't have had the perspective to see the God-oriented goodness of it all.

So seeing Elizabeth’s reaction may have been somewhat odd to Mary. I wonder if Mary was a bit bewildered. “What? What do you me ‘blessed’? You must be using that word loosely.” But Elizabeth knows. She knows what it means to be blessed (in the godly sense). 

Our human definition of blessing is narrow and limited. God knows and consistently delivers with the total magnitude of His power and love nothing but true blessing to His children (Romans 8:28). And He gives nothing less than that to His children. He is always and forever giving His children the best of everything. And that’s tough to see in our day-to-day circumstances. Our difficult and seemingly purposeless jobs. Difficult co-workers, unruly children, tough parents. 

Can we say with Mary— “from now on all generations will call me blessed” by God “for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name”? Can we say that about our lives right now? Our day-to-day circumstances? About what we will face the rest of the day and the rest of this week? 

I'd encourage you to listen to, sing along with, or hum in your mind this part of the song Good, Good Father... "God, You are perfect in all (every single ounce) of Your ways to us."