First Impressions
Fear
People are subject to fear. Fear of loss; fear of the unknown; fear of uncertainty; fear of pain.
The angels that visited Mary, Joseph and Zechariah told them not to fear. This is a message we all ought to repeat to ourselves. To me, the first Great Commandment means that we are content with our fate and lot in life. And to truly embrace the First Great commandment, we ought to also love our fate and lot in life. This set of circumstances; these turn of events were meant for us. The quicker we accept that fate and lot, the better off we are and we show God we love what He has given us.
No word from God will ever fail / virgin birth
This is a fascinating subject and I think a proper analysis will help dispel myths and help people have a proper balance between reality and faith.
In the KJV version, Luke 1:37 reads, "With God, nothing shall be impossible." While in the NIV version, it reads, "No word from God will ever fail."
If anything is proclaimed that seems amazing or miraculous, we ought to go to great lengths to ensure it came from God. We all know that humans are subject to being deceived and can deceive others. This is the reason for scientific analysis; to detect when people are telling the truth or not. Now, with Mary and the virgin birth - this truly is an extraordinary claim. But not out of the realm of impossibility. It is known, in the animal kingdom, that some animals can reproduce asexually. It has never been proven with humans, but at least according to this article about a study, about 1% of the population claims to have had a virgin birth.
And this puts observers in an interesting spot. Someone makes an amazing claim and they say it comes from God - how are we supposed to take this? How are we, as individuals, going to ensure that this claim came from God or from the imagination of this other person?
For me personally, I will reserve judgement for myself. I've seen and heard too many outlandish claims, from Scientologists, to Muslims to radical Christians to turn over my judgement and agree with their claims. So, where do I fall with the virgin birth? No where. I'm not sure it really matters.
I think we all ought to be careful in thinking that if we ask God with enough faith, that He will give us a blessing. I think too many people put a lot of hope in this scripture when they try to apply it to themselves. They desire "blessing X" and they think that "with God, nothing is impossible" and they pray for it, but they don't receive it. They then begin to blame themselves for not being worthy, or not having enough faith.
To people with this mindset, I would recommend that they check their desires. The only thing they really have control over is their attitude. All else is out of their control; their health, wealth, weather they will have a child or be child-less ... all of that is out of their control. And if they extend their desires to one or all of those things, and they fail to get it, they may blame God! And what a sad place to be in! Rather, with all these things, they ought not to extend a desire toward them, and if they do, they should have a reserve clause: if it is according to God's will.
Some Questions from the Manual
Why did the Savior need to be born of a mortal mother and an immortal Father?
President Russell M. Nelson explained that the Atonement of Jesus Christ “required a personal sacrifice by an immortal being not subject to death. Yet He must die and take up His own body again. The Savior was the only one who could accomplish this. From His mother He inherited power to die. From His Father He obtained power over death” (“Constancy amid Change,” Ensign, Nov. 1993, 34).
I will be very honest and open here; why does the Atonement require a sacrifice by an immortal being? This is one of those things that seems to fall under the category of some great mystery; pointing to some law in the Universe that we are unaware of. And we've just been told; that's the way it is. And a follow-up "meta" question here. Why are we humans OK with some assumptions as this one, but we deny other similar assumptions by other non-Christian religions? Anyway, not sure this really matters anyway.
One final thought on this subject; the word "sacrifice" in President Nelson's quote. To me, the word sacrifice means the one doing the sacrificing loses something in return for something greater. I think some examples are in order.
In chess, if I sacrifice my queen for a knight or rook, but win the game with that sacrifice, then mission accomplished! I don't want to lose my queen, but my goal of winning the game is bigger than my fear of losing the queen.
For the kids to love Harry Potter, we learn of the many sacrifices people make through the books. One stands out in my mind, when Dumbledore and Harry seek out a horcrux at a cave. To gain entrance to the cave, Dumbledore has to cut his hand in a form of self-sacrifice and self-harm. Later in the cave, he drinks poisonous water that inhibits him, so that he can gain access to the horcrux. They accomplish the mission, but as we later find out, the horcrux was a fake, so mission not accomplished. And this brings another aspect of what a sacrifice is: uncertainty. It's one thing to "make a sacrifice" when you are guaranteed an outcome (i.e. sacrificing queen for a win in a chess game), but it is quite another when the odds are less than 100% or even less than 50%.
In my career, if I sacrifice time with family, in order to earn more money, so that I can then have more time off work to spend with my family, then mission accomplished! But sometimes these sacrifices can be long and the work might change and I may find myself away from my family.
If my child needs an organ transplant to live, and I supply that organ and in the process die, then the sacrifice was worth it if my child lives. But there is the factor of uncertainly, that I may die or worse, my child dies.
All of these thoughts fall under the science of risk management. People have studied this time and time again. Life is full of decisions and trade-offs. We are willing to take risks, so long as we are somewhat confident in the outcome.
Now, back to Christ's sacrifice. If He knew with certainly he was the Son of God, and therefore immortal, then it would seem that His sacrifice is more analogous with a queen sacrifice in a chess game, for a certain win. He was perfectly willing to suffer and die, because He knew he was going to live again just three days after dying. And not only just live again, but be immortal.
But what if He didn't know for sure he was the Son of God? What if there were some degree of uncertainly on His part? We certainly get this vibe when we analyze the temptations of Christ in the wilderness. If He were uncertain about his mortality, then that makes this a higher-risk sacrifice.
God’s blessings come in His own time
Indeed they do! It is we humans who put too much desire in things out of our control. If we are anxious about getting a blessing, we are putting ourselves at risk of violating the First Great commandment. Better to be in a position to love your fate from God, than to extend your desire for something out of your control. If you love your fate, then you will love what God sends your way on His timetable, and you will never be anxious.
We see lots of anxiety in Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah.
The CFM manual says, "Like Mary, we sometimes find that God’s plans for our life are quite different from what we had planned."
Speaking from experience, I've learned that God's plan for me is very different from many others in my family and community. For some, it is to remain a faithful member of one congregation or church, while for me, God has lead me on a different path. I submit my will to God and I try to accept His will for me every single day. I used to have lots of anxiety, thinking I could plan and control my fate and plan. But I've learned, painfully sometimes, that I can't control it. I have to accept God's will for me. Accepting God's will is at the heart of the First Great commandment.