While I don't know much about writing devotionals, I like to think I've learned a little about being devout. I've been thinking about what that means to me and simply, it means praying the prayer that never fails. You know the one I'm speaking of, “Thy will be done.” As I try to sincerely pray that prayer and accept its outcomes, I realize it's certainly easier said than done!
So, when I got this e-mail and I thought about what to write, I thought about that prayer specifically and then I thought about the Virgin Mary. I mean, here she was a young, single woman, engaged to a nice young man, when Wham, her whole world was rocked because of the Angel's news that she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and have a son and she would call him Jesus.
That's quite a lot to digest if you ask me. I can't imagine my own reaction to the very same scenario. But I think that Mary must have said “Ok, Lord, Thy will be done” period even though she must have been confused and scared. It couldn't have been easy for her to accept the outcomes of the that sincerely prayed prayer and get on with it. After all, she had to tell Joseph and she had to rethink all of the plans I'm sure she'd been making. But she did it and so did Joseph. They both responded to these commands with faith and sincerity and pulled it together and got on with the business of doing what the Lord wanted them to do.
During Advent, I'm going to try to remember that this miracle happened because two people responded to God's command that “His will be Done” and they said “OK Lord, here we are, Thy will be Done.”