Happy New Year! I hope your Christmas was a joyous time and also a time of reflection. I think after Mary gave birth to Jesus she and Joseph might have had that moment many parents have after the birth of a child: “Now what?”
I know after our children were born I asked myself that question. After every birth, I wondered whether I would be a good parent and hoped that my children would grow up safe and healthy. Each birth brought new anxieties and questions. Even though I had no real relationship with Jesus during those times, I know I always said a quick prayer after each birth, “Thank you God but please help us.”
After Jesus was born, I believe Mary and Joseph had many of the same feelings most new parents have. I can’t even begin to imagine what was going through their minds as they held God incarnate in their arms that first night in the stable. I wonder if the joy of having a new baby momentarily blocked out the reality that in their arms they held the salvation of the world?
I hope that Mary and Joseph were able to remember at that time the words spoken to each of them by the angel Gabriel prior to Mary’s pregnancy. As they had time to reflect on what had just happened and what lay ahead, I imagine they gained strength from what they were told and put their complete trust in God.
But putting complete trust in God does not mean our life goes into cruise control and we are just along for the ride. Mary and Joseph could not say, “Ok God, he’s all yours. Do your thing.” They had to be intimately involved with God in all that was happening. Mary and Joseph would be deeply involved in Jesus’ upbringing. What they did helped to shape the man Jesus became.
Whether we like it or not the same thing applies for us: we have to be intimately involved with God in all that we do. God alone won’t do all the work. I know a person who lives in a home where the water, electric, and gas have been shut off. “God will provide” is what I hear yet it has been over two months since the utilities have been shut off and now winter is upon us. I believe that God has been opening doors for this person but in their “blind faith” the doors are not visible. Their “faith” tells them that God should and will do all the work.
Don’t let our faith blind us. If we want our church to grow, we have to be involved with God in order to make it happen. We must look for the doors that God opens for us and not be afraid to go through them.
Always remember the words spoken to Mary by the angel Gabriel for these are the same words always spoken to us when God greets us. We just have to listen. God loves each and every one of us, more than we can imagine. But this relationship must be a working relationship, not one in which we just sit there with our hands held out.
