Lord, I am willing to sit here, and hear. In real time. For anyone, everyone, who needs to also sit, and hear. Please, what would You say?
The first thing I would say is, for everything there is a time and a season. You think of Christmas as a time of waiting, as Advent, and it is. You also think of this as a time of giving and receiving, and it is. But it is also a time of revelation and revolution. The world was about ready to be turned upside down. The weak would be declared strong. The poor would be declared rich. The blind would see, the deaf would hear, the lame would walk. And what was the agent of this revolution? Power? No. Not in the traditional sense. Not weaponry, not strength, not war, not the force those imply. A force much, much greater than all of those was invading your world in a new and different way. The force of Love, made manifest.
And how did this triumphant, powerful Love arrive? Heralded not by kings but by angels and humble, bewildered shepherds, and a young, bewildered unmarried couple. What do angels, shepherds and this young couple have in common? Their faith to say yes. Angels to say yes to sing songs of celebration not to a sold-out crowd, but to a bunch of sheep-herders in an open field. Those shepherds to say yes to going to look for a baby, when they were supposed to be tending to the sheep, trusting the sheep would be looked after. The mother and father to say yes to a biological impossibility and a spiritual necessity.
So I would ask you, ask everyone you reach, what are you waiting to say yes to? What gift longs to be born through you? When is the last time you talked to Me about how your song, your shepherding and your mentoring heart can touch your world?
Lord, don’t I talk to you about this all the time?
Ah, yes. Yes, you do. And what do you say? You say, but. You say, maybe one day when. You say, how can. All of these seem like wise, thoughtful, preparatory questions. But they really are just disguised ways of saying No. Of saying, Not Yet. Of saying, Not Me.
So I would ask you. This Christmas, are you ready to say Yes? If you can lay aside but, and maybe when, and not yet, you will have the full support of all of heaven’s resources, so that you can carry out all you truly long to do, all you were truly born to do, in this world, for this time. So now it is My turn. Please, what would you say?
I pause, stop typing, bow my head. I know this is not only for me, but for many of us. Maybe all of us. So for my part, Lord, what else can I say? You’re right, of course You are. I have had reasons and doubts and questions. But tonight, suspending my own disbelief, that You would choose me, someone like me, I take a deep breath and say the only thing I can think of to say. Yes.