Third Friday of Advent: Awaiting with Wonder

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." - Luke 1:35

These words never fail to resonate in my heart.  God calls each of us to serve, but  very seldom tells any of us how we will be enabled to carry out our mission.  Mary is the exception, perhaps because her mission was so important and so intimate.  Any woman who has carried a child in her womb for nine months knows this intimacy.  If her child kicks, moves, or even hiccups, she feels it and is profoundly aware of the new person living inside her body; and with the child, a powerful urge to love also lives in her body.  

Imagine the baby being the son of God.  What wonder!  God, that joyful, exuberant center of cosmic love, irresistibly eager to expand and create, held Mary in profound embrace and became flesh in Jesus! Wow! I have heard this scripture for seventy years, and I am still filled with wonder. What is it like in God's shadow, I have wondered.  Could I survive that intimacy?  Does the shadow of the Most High block out the light?

YHWH's Shadow

The light inYHWH's shadow
Fills the center,
And the edges of my soul,
Dances like fireflies
With the joy of being.
The light in YHWH's shadow
Warms my life with
The searing fire of love;
Sings the lark's song
Of exultation.
The light in YHWH's shadow
Brings abundant life;
Delights my heart like
The laughter of a child.

Reflected by Sharon Sullivan