To a large degree the Christmas story in Luke’s Gospel is told through eyes of a brave adolescent woman’s traumatic experience. This moving narrative showcases Mary’s humble faith and heroic fortitude in the face of unimaginably difficult circumstances. She is one of the most inspiring figures in the Bible, showing us how to deal with whatever challenges we face in life with dauntless grit and daring grace. How did she do it? As imagined by the fourth century Christian leader, Ephrem the Syrian, no doubt she grasped from early on that, “The babe I carry carries me.”