Mark Lowry's "Mary Did You Know?"

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.

Mark Lowry sat down in 1984 and composed words for the Living Christmas Tree at his church.  Little did he know that his words would become one of the most recorded modern Christmas songs, recorded by 400 artists

"I started thinking and wondering if Mary realized the power, authority and majesty that cradled in her arms that first Christmas.I wondered if she realized that those little hands were the same hands that scooped out oceans and formed rivers.  I just tried to put into words the unfathomable."

The result was Mary Did You Know?  However, it was seven more years before the words were put to music by Buddy Greene.  In 1991, Christian singer Michael English recorded the Christmas song.  Five years later it was recorded by Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd.  Mark Lowry realized that the song had gotten away from him, though, when it was recorded by Natalie Cole and Donny Osmond.  My favourite version is sung by Rascal Flatts.  I cannot think of a song that captures Mary's thoughts better than this one. 

My Favourite Christmas Decoration

My Mom loves Christmas.  She has always done an excellent job decorating her house to celebrate the season.  When I was growing up, Mom would put up a large artificial tree in the living room (later rec room).  She would put a medium sized silver tree (circa 1960's) on top of the grand piano. She would hang our monogrammed red and white stockings above the fireplace.  She wrapped garland around the staircase leading up to the bedrooms.  She hung a large wreath on our front door.

But my favourite Christmas decoration was the manger scene that sat on our television set.  It came in a rectangular box which said MADE IN ITALY on the bottom.  The roof folded up to fit inside the box as did the stable.  Plastic figurines lay under the roof.  Mom would set up the stable, open up the roof to go on top, and place the figurines carefully in their spots.  Mary and Joseph sat on either side of baby Jesus, sleeping on what looked like a tiny stool lined with hay.  The donkey, ox and lamb gazed at the baby Jesus from a distance. The three wise men, their gifts in their hands, waited in a single file line to see the newborn king. The angel hung from a nail at the peak of the roof.  And the best part of all was the miniature light bulb poking through the back of the stable to serve as the Star over Bethlehem.  

There was something so peaceful about that creche.  When Rob and I bought our house we tried to find a nativity scene just like it, but to no avail.  It was one of a kind.  For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity_scene.