"And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 1:28-33)
There are wonderful examples of mothers all throughout the Bible - good ones and bad ones. When I think of Biblical mothers, I suppose I'd have to put Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the top of the list. There is a responsibility placed on all mothers to raise a child in the way he should go, but Mary had even more placed on her shoulders. I cannot even imagine how it felt to be raising the Son of God.
There are those in the religious world that place her on a pedestal. They say she was a sinless lady. While I agree that she had to be sexually pure, there is nothing to indicate she was sinless. In fact, there is definite proof that she did have sin. The Word says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Romans 3:23) So, I know that she had to have some sins. But for her to be chosen for such a high honor, she had to have been a very godly woman. God choosing her for this high honor puts her in the ranks of people like Enoch who walked with God, Noah who saved himself and family from the flood, and David chosen to rule God's people.
I wish that I could sit at Mary's feet and learn from her. I wonder how she learned to be a godly parent? Nowadays we learn from example and from the Bible. Who helped her to be the mother of the Son of God? She had the Old Testament scriptures. When the family moved to Nazareth she was away from her family so evidently there was no extended family to help her out.
No, I imagine that the mother of our Lord had to rely heavily upon the Holy Scriptures and prayer. Could we not do the same? Our days should begin on our knees both to speak to and listen to our heavenly Father. He speaks to us from His Word. Won't you listen?
Simply a Christian. "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1) "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." (1 Thessalonians 5:11)