Ready or Not #adventbookclub – Day 22
I can’t pass over Maggi’s comment on the introduction to this section,
things that seem very ordinary to us are not necessarily unimportant… (p101)
How true.
Luke 1:39-45 (CEV)
Mary Visits Elizabeth
By Warburg (Own work)
39 A short time later Mary hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea. 40 She went into Zechariah’s home, where she greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, her baby moved within her.
The Holy Spirit came upon Elizabeth. 42 Then in a loud voice she said to Mary:
God has blessed you more than any other woman! He has also blessed the child you will have. 43 Why should the mother of my Lord come to me? 44 As soon as I heard your greeting, my baby became happy and moved within me. 45 The Lord has blessed you because you believed that he will keep his promise.
Mary,
you have come to me,
carrying within you
the Lord.
My child
recognises your child,
I know,
I feel,
God’s blessing is here.
You believed him,
allowed him to work in you,
and through you
he will bless us.
Maggi talks about God’s timetables (p104) – how true! God’s timing is rarely at our convenience, but always the right time. (Maggi’s story reminds me of ours. We decided to move house when I was pregnant, eventually finding one when I was 34 weeks pregnant. The solicitor tried to tell us it would be very hard to complete in four weeks – I suggested to her it was quite important! This baby was coming, whether she or we were ready – or not)
This takes us back to Day 1. God is coming whether it feels like the right time or not. Coming into the unreadiness, the mess, the inconvenient. Into the pain, the fear, the wondering – and yes the wonder and awe too. He is indeed coming – ready or not
This year, several of us are reading Beginnings and Endings by Maggi Dawn and joining together to comment on it. Do join us at the Adventbookclub Facebook page, follow #adventbookclub on Twitter or comment below. If you are also reading and blogging on this book, let me know and I will link to your blog.
Pam's Perambulation 
This doesn’t feel like the right time. It never does. It is a time of pain and anguish. Yet God is here. God comes specifically into that. Will I allow him? Or are the barriers so strong, so well built, so old, that I can’t open the door?
It is always, always the right time for God to come. And He always, always comes into pain and anguish. Childbirth is a time of pain and anguish for both mother and child. From the very first moment, God in Christ says to us “I embrace all that makes you you. Your pain is My pain. Your anguish is My anguish. In life and in death I am in you and with you. I share your anger, your rage at the turn your life has taken. I bear your frustration with you. I too know what it is to feel abandoned by God. Have you got the barriers in place? Are you powerless to tear them down? It doesn’t matter. Here I am, tapping you on the shoulder… I’m _inside_ the barriers with you. Have you turned your back on me? I’m right behind you, holding you in my arms. I have no answers for you other than my Love. And My resurrection shall be yours.”
🙂