Advent Day 5
Luke 1:31 ESV
Luke 1:34-35 ESV
Whenever the clouds roll in upon me and I’m tired and worn out by everyday life I intentionally stop writing and I find something to read that will awaken my tired bones.
Today I read about the mundane moments of life and how we can be tempted into thinking life is a separate set of events that are not connected to something greater. Today I was reminded that life is not about mundane events.
Life is not about what happened today.
Life is NOT a series of disconnected happenings.
So what is life?
I’d say life is an ultra interconnected electrical supercharged current turned on inside us by Almighty God.
Life is powered BY God.
We do not power life. We are not that powerful.
I think that’s why I get so frustrated with the inept way we do evangelism. We act like we are the ones who have the power to say “yes” to God and we are supposed to continually say “yes” to God every day.
I’m telling you…it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because it puts the onus on us.
We do not possess that kind of power.
If we think we do, we are fooling ourselves. That kind of thinking certainly and ultimately will lead us to believe we ARE in charge.
So, here’s the rub…we should not think we need to DO for God. Americans are particularly good at thinking we need to DO. We are a do-ing culture.
The truth is we need to stop DO-ing.
We need to stop and rest.
Today’s advent scripture provides us with a perfect example.
The Angel of the Lord found Mary. Mary did not go to God and offer her services to be the Mother of God.
God went to her. We know from Luke 1:31 that the Angel spoke to Mary and said, “behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”
It was not her idea. She didn’t make a plan for the immaculate conception.
Mary went about life loving others and one day the Angel appeared. Mary opened her hands and her heart to the Angel. She simply received what a good had for her. She could have said no, but she didn’t. She loved God and she loved people. She opened her hands to God.
She was confused, so we learn in Luke 1:34-35 that she had a question about how this could work. “And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”
Oh.
Okay.
I don’t think it’s been done this way before, but Mary still kept her hands open.
She received what God had for her.
When we think about it that way, we can see that all the way back God had a plan for that moment. Even if we just consider Mary’s lineage of the Tribe of Judah, we can see that God had a plan.
It was an ultra interconnected electrical supercharged current turned on by Almighty God.
It was all the begets times a thousand (which symbolizes an unending set of events). God planned everyone.
God purposed it and it’s all connected.
Do you see it? That’s why it’s not about what You can do.
YOU are not that powerful.
God is powerful.
God had and has a plan. God IS the source.
When we connect to the source we open our hands to receive the power of Almighty God.
THAT’S what Mary did. That’s what God saw in her. He saw a girl who was open to receiving the gift He had for her.
YOU are no different. What God wants from you is an open heart and open hands.
God will take care of the rest.
Spiritual Practice: Open your hands to God
Turn OFF the noise. No tele. No texts. No music. Open your hands to God and wait. Let the power of God’s ultra interconnected electrical supercharged current IN.
In God, Deborah
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