I was in a restaurant last week and the waitress, whom I have known since her birth, came over to take our order. I asked her, “When is the wedding date?”
She gave me a look and said, “I’m not even going out with anyone!”

It was my way of prying out information. Had she gave a date or said one had not been set then I would have known that she was seriously engaged. Or she could have said that she had just met the guy or that she wasn’t engage yet.

I asked her how old she was and she replied with 21 years old. I told her that by the time Linda was that age she was married and had a child.

Though there are a few exceptions, girls are not getting married or having children at an early age. My eldest daughter had her first child at 29, after 5 years of marriage.

Young moms are getting older! Like I said, there are some exceptions.

My great-grandmother was married at the age of 17, and my great, great grandmother was 16. These ages and even 14 or 15 years old were not uncommon.

In Biblical times it was even more common for young women 12-15 to be married in an arrangement. Such may be the case with Mary.

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Luke 1:26-28

Though Linda was a mom at 21, I cannot imagine someone being a mom in the early teen years, though it does happen. That’s a child with a child.
But it is what God chose for His own Son, a young woman. The exact age of Mary at the time of Jesus’ birth is not known. I guess it around 15 years old.

When my great grandparents of old married, most of life consisted of farming and raising children.
Today young moms are faced with the husband working, her working, and putting the children into daily childcare. It is not easy.

Even moms, like my eldest, are having to work and deal with childcare. But to these moms, whether young or a bit older, if you are serving the Lord, the same message that was given to Mary is given to you, “The Lord is with you!”