Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
When was the last time you were asked to do something completely different? Perhaps it is a change in your job description at work or maybe needing to move to a new city. No matter what the change, it may demand that one look at the world differently. But more than this, it may ask us to function in a new way. Can you imagine a situation like that?
Imagine then the readings today, two couples today who find themselves barren, unable to have children. It seems unthinkable to both of these couples that they would have a child. They lived in a culture where it was seen as a stigma to not have children. It must have seemed to them that God had abandoned them. It must have been hard to imagine their world ever changing.
Yet in the midst of the routine of their lives, comes a messenger. The message brought to these couples turned their world upside down. “Your life is going to change.” Their initial reaction was one of fear. They were afraid of what was being asked of them. In spite of theirs fear, they worked through their disbeliefs to find peace, acceptance and trust in the Lord’s message. How do we work through to find acceptance and peace when the Lord is calling us to change?
This Advent season is short-lived now, yet there is still time for us to prepare the way of the Lord. Reflect on one way in which you might become more open to the new life the Lord is calling you. Or consider how God is trying to bring this new life into your heart, into your family, and into our world through you?
Good and loving God, You sent Your Son to show us the way. Help us to be aware of the blessings that You are offering us. Let today’s call to readiness remind each of us to bring Christ to birth again this day and always. Amen.
-Michael Montgomery