Hi, everyone! It’s me, Maggie, from school.
I have the privilege of being a guest blogger this week. Ms. Hewett and I have roughly the same face, so I assume she figured that would shine through in this post and it would hardly even be like she was gone.
Actually, Ms Hewett is very supportive of me having my own voice, and I am honoured that she trusted me to share it here.
Today, my family lit the fourth candle of advent. By the glow of the love candle, we watched a prerecorded church service in which a lector read the account of the enunciation in the first chapter of Luke.
When an angel appeared to Mary and told her that God had incredible, incomprehensible things in store for her, we may not be able to know with complete certainly how she immediately reacted, but we do know that at the end of her interaction with the angel, she said “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” (Luke 1:38).
She may or may not have felt physically, mentally, or emotionally ready for the miracle that God was about to do in her, but I think her answer implies that she was spiritually in a place where she was ready to accept something astounding.
Tonight, I can’t help but wonder: Am I ready?
After a semester of classes entirely online and the stress of wondering if working my campus job or crossing the street to the dining hall for dinner every evening would result in contracting or spreading a virus, I’m taking a break for a few days. To be perfectly honest, I am not looking forward to heading back into another semester that looks even bleaker than this past one was.
But I know this break has to end. I feel called to keep on learning and to be involved in my church as much as is safe and possible. In the midst of what feels like just a lot of drudgery, I want to be prepared to hear God calling me to something higher than just another semester in a grim world.
As I look towards celebrating the birth of Christ, as I take some time to rest and contemplate, I also want to be vigilant. I know I need to take some time off now, but as I slow down for a bit, I also want to take the time to prepare myself for what lies ahead, what God is doing in me and around me.
I want to be ready.
