Allowing

Several years ago, while undertaking spiritual direction with Catholic sisters, I learned of lectio divina – a divine reading of the Word…

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectio_Divina

As opposed to the ‘Let’s hurry up and read the entire Bible in a certain time frame,” lectio divina involves picking a story or passage and reading it aloud – often three times. Then there is a meditation on the reading to see what image, word or thought comes up in your mind.

The birth of Jesus is a wonderful passage to read in this style. Starting with the angel visitation, I found it interesting that in a short period of time Mary was both 1) troubled and 2) accepting. In short course she says, “Let it be unto me according to thy word,” to the angel visiting her.

Mary was allowing God to work in her life and make her the bearer of Jesus. I often find myself trying and trying to make things work in my life, as opposed to allowing them to unfold.

I doubt Mary woke up that morning expecting an angel visitation informing her she was with child. It’s pretty shocking really. But Mary was apparently an unusual lass, who God apparently knew well enough to trust with such a scandalous mission.

This all leads me to wonder how prepared I am to let divine order ( joy, wisdom, peace) into my life. Just like the Chinese finger trap, sometimes trying too hard just leaves me more stuck. Instead I see a call to allow… this means doing my work to live an uplifted, honest life. It also means not trying so hard to force things, and instead creating an inner space where angels (in whatever form they take) can get my attention and bring good tidings!

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