After the angel Gabriel’s visit, Mary woke to a new reality.
The pondering of her heart emerged on her lips as she washed the dishes and passed by the beggars on her way to fetch more water.
“My soul glorifies the Lord,” she sang to herself. “He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me.” The Saviour is in me! What a wondrous thought.
But weeks passed and nothing changed. Mary began to wonder if it had all been a dream, until one morning a wave of nausea propelled her out of bed just in time. She threw up in the garden, then leaned against the clay brick wall wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as perspiration cooled her brow.
It happened the next day, and the next. Mary hadn’t dreamt it; she was pregnant with God’s Son. That first Advent Mary wasn’t waiting for Christ to come. He was already there, her growing belly a testimony.
In our Advent we, like Israel, cry, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget us forever? How long will you hide your face from us?” We keep looking for God to come in power and fill the hungry with good things. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit has already overshadowed us, seeding Christ in us.
And now it is God who is waiting for us. God waits for us to awaken to a new reality, a wondrous thought that Christ is in us, with us, and for us.
We are being filled full of God.
Keeping Watch by Hafiz
In the morning
When I began to wake,
It happened again–
That feeling
That You, Beloved,
Had stood over me all night
Keeping watch,
That feeling
That as soon as I began to stir
You put Your lips on my forehead
And lit a Holy Lamp
Inside my Heart.
An Everyday Pilgrim 
The Counselor has been sent and dwells within us. Do we hold our bellies in awe as the Spirit of God grows within us? Do we yearn to share that new reality to those around us? Or do we (as I do more often than not) continue with our self-absorbed, self-controlled little lives devoid of wonder, devoid of change, devoid of eternal significance?
How do I say “Yes, Lord. Make me your slave” as Mary did when everything around me is telling me to say, “Sorry. No thanks. Too busy. Gotta run. Buh bye.” ????
Thank you for adding a little more fuel to that Holy Lamp within my heart.
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Hi Jim,
Thanks for sharing those thoughtful questions.
And thanks for adding a little more fuel to mine.
Peace be with you as you glory in the One who is here.
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