Luke 1:46-49

We are just a few days from the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus and I can’t help but think am I ready? Questions and thoughts keep bubbling through my mind….

Have I taken time to think through all the ways I can make the day special for my family? Have I conversed with my husband about donations we want to make this year to organizations who support people in need? Have I gathered enough small gifts to share with friends we will see in the coming days? Have we decided which Christmas Eve service we will attend as a family? Have we scheduled all the dinners, outings we want to have with local friends? All the busy tasks of making Christmas just right can be consuming and I fear I overlook what I really need to be preparing. My life…my heart…

Reading this passage attributed to Mary, the young woman who was swept into God’s plan for humanity, we see her heart poured out. In these words in Luke she reveals her deep gratitude for being involved in God’s grace-filled plan. Maybe she does not fully recognize what these events will mean in her life… yet she sings praises to the Mighty One. Reading these words I find myself asking where is my gratitude? Where are my plans to praise God? Have I so filled my time doing Christmas that I have no energy left to celebrate Christmas? During this season there are so many external expectations of preparing for Christmas, many of which pull us from the depth to of the real meaning. We must work to stay focused on the preparations that connect us to the Holy One.  I wish for all of us to take the time to embrace the miracle of God breaking into this world with a love never seen before.