Living like Mary

I started this Advent season by going back to Luke to re-read the births of John and Jesus. This time, I noticed the responses from Zechariah and Mary when approached by the angel Gabriel.  Both were startled, "gripped with fear," "troubled at his words," but Zechariah received a sentence for his retort.  After asking the angel, "How can I be sure of this?" The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."


Zechariah, unsure of how this all would be made possible, doubted the angel. Because he wanted to know how, wanted answers, wanted proof, he was silenced until the day Elizabeth delivered.

On the contrary, maybe because the angel told her that Elizabeth would give birth, maybe not... Mary responded this way, "I am the Lord's servant ... May it be to me as you have said."


Now, I don't know about you, but most of the time I respond like Zechariah. I want to know how, or why. I want answers. I want proof. I want to know that what I'm getting into will have a fruitful outcome.  That I will succeed. That I will not be defeated.  That God will act in a mighty way.


But truthfully, we, of all people, should respond to what God ask us to do like Mary.  We should possess the attitude of Mary.  This is how Henri Nouwen puts it ... 

“Just imagine what Mary was actually saying in the words, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord ... let what you have said be done to me’ (Luke 1:38). She was saying, ‘I don’t know what this all means, but I trust that good things will happen.’ She trusted so deeply that her waiting was open to all possibilities. And she did not want to control them. She believed that when she listened carefully she could trust what was going to happen.

“To wait open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude toward life. So is to trust that something will happen to us that is far beyond our own imaginings. So, too, is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that God molds us according to God’s love and not according to our fear. The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination, fantasy, or prediction. That, indeed, is a very radical stance toward life in a world preoccupied with control.”

Around here, especially at the end of the year, it can be hard to approach each day like Mary. To believe that what seems impossible to us is truly possible through God.  Because God asked us to be here, all things are possible.  We are Mary every single day, saying, "I am your servant ... May it be as you have said."  And with that "yes" comes active waiting, trusting and faith.  We must have hope in the words spoken to Mary that night ... "For nothing is impossible with God."

You should know that God does prove that He is moving in this ministry through YOU...

• In the 5 truck beds full of tools being delivered to us this Friday from Jim Smith in Mount Zion, IL.
• In the $600 given by Carolina Cross Connection, a non-profit ministry just like Mountain T.O.P. seeking to raise their OWN funds right now.
• In the $590 given by the Church of the Savior because they responded to us asking to take up a love offering for the ministry.
• In the Christmas cards full of hope, joy and thanksgiving for all that Mountain T.O.P. has done in lives of others.
• In the registration of new churches for our 2012 programs.
• In the volunteers coming this Thursday and Friday to help Doris Bivens move into her home before Christmas.

As we continue in this ministry together, may we live like we believe that all things are possible through God!