Excerpt from John 2:1-11

"Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.' And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.' His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.'"

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

You know, my mother thought I could do anything, too. She was always exaggerating my gifts.

When it was time to apply to college she told me I should go to Harvard. When I explained that my grade point average was not represented anywhere in that school's statistics, she would say, "Oh, nonsense, just apply."

Once I started working, she was always giving me a promotion, telling people I was doing the work of my boss. When I tried to correct her, she would just keep talking.  My churches were tripled in size; my first articles turned into books and a seat on the association's committee on ministry made me a bishop—all through the power of a mother's imagination.

Listening to my mother, you would have thought I was some kind of miracle worker, but I knew better, and so did Harvard.
 
So I have always delighted that the first miracle Jesus performs is the result of his mother's imagination. His mother tells him that they have run out of wine, and he says, 'Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?" He's as annoyed as anyone when his mother puts her enormous vision for him out there.

But Jesus actually was a miracle worker. And someone had to get him started.

Sometimes a mother's imagination is a miracle in itself.

Prayer

Dear God, this day, I pray for those who nag and those who brag. I pray for all the people who see possibilities in me long before I do. And I pray not to be annoyed by those people. You have put them here for a reason. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

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