“Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.” – Luke 1:38

“Let it be with me according to your word.” This was Mary’s response when the angel Gabriel came to her to foretell the birth of Jesus. Although being a mother of a child as a virgin was unexpected and unwelcome news to her, Mary obeyed God with this amazing confession of faith.

As we live our life, we always hope and dream of a perfect life without any frustration and challenges. Especially, as we face the new year, we may have many plans and goals hoping for a better year. However, as we already know, life does not go according to our will. Sometimes, we have to face unreasonable, unwelcome, unexpected, and unhappy situations. However, we could learn from Mary. For nothing will be impossible with God, Mary obeyed God with courage of faith, and she received the best blessing: being the mother of Jesus.

With this thought, a world-famous song, “Let it be” by the Beatles led me to have a great new insight. If you read the first verse of this song, it goes like this:

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be

And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be

Actually, this song was not written based on Mary’s story in Luke. While the Beatles were struggling with dissension, Paul McCartney dreamed about his mother, Mary McCartney saying “it will be all right, let it be” so he wrote about it in his music. But many fans tried to interpret “Mother Mary” as the virgin Mary. Anyway, considering the story of Mary in Luke, “Let it be” is good enough to remind us of Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel: “Let it be with me according to your word”

We are Christians – followers of Christ Jesus – when in times of trouble, we remember Mary’s words of wisdom: “Let it be with me according to your word” Then, our almighty God, for whom nothing is impossible, make it all right in God’s way and in God’s time. As we face the new year, I really want us to ask these questions to ourselves, “are we ready to say YES to God? Are we ready to follow and live according to God’s word?” I hope and pray that this year we are ready to say YES to God by remembering that nothing will be impossible with God.”

May God bless you and guide you in this new year! – Pastor Ran Yoo

Posted in From The Pastors