The Trailblazers of ChristmasSýnishorn

The Angel

Have you ever thought your life was going in one direction, before it became clear that it was going to go an entirely other direction?

Perhaps you’ve found yourself—as New York Times columnist Adam Grant described American society as a whole—languishing. Maybe you’re trying to survive day-to-day life on the foundation of a cultural construction you call “the self.” Your interests, desires, likes, dislikes, hobbies, vocation, relationships, beliefs, principles, and convictions all curated and controlled by . . . YOU. And at some point, if you’ve ever had the courage to not stuff them away, the big questions of life have arisen:

“Who am I?”
“What is my purpose?”
“Why am I here?”
“What does the future hold?”
“Do I matter?”
“Will I ever _____ [fill in the blank].”

And perhaps, like me, you’ve found yourself asking those questions and have been left wanting. It feels like something is missing within you.

If that’s where you’re at, you’re not alone.

Many of us long for clarity. But many of us are not willing to count the cost that clarity requires.

What if we have to surrender what we think we want most in order to inherit what we most need?

Let’s trace this idea with a conversation between mother Mary and the angel Gabriel.

“Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be” (Luke 1:29, NIV).

I mean, let’s just connect the dots. You’re a twelve- to fourteen-year-old girl, engaged to be married, in a backwoods town of rural Palestine. Your life is the epitome of ordinary. And perhaps that’s exactly as Mary wanted it. Maybe up to that point, her biggest dream centered around her future kids, how many she’d have and if they’d be boys or girls, or maybe her biggest dream centered around life with her betrothed, Joseph—maybe she was trying to imagine what life with a man outside of her family of origin would entail.

And then . . . this happens.

All of the existential questions of Mary’s life up to this point are coming to the surface. And she’s troubled by what she’s hearing.

In the clarity of her calling is a cost.

What about you? What’s the cost of your calling?

Giving up the career that will lead to the best material outcome.
Giving up the dream of being married by thirty—or perhaps, ever.
Giving up the preferred future you’re working so hard to create.
Giving up the house in that part of town with that backyard and that exterior.
Giving up the belief that you can self-actualize and self-achieve the life you want.

An invitation has been extended and you have been given the agency—the freedom—to choose. But know that whatever you choose, that decision will come at a cost.

Are you willing to surrender everything that you’ve attached yourself to up to this point for meaning, for fulfillment, and for purpose, and are you willing to pledge your life to Jesus as the Lord and Savior of your life?

Are you willing to allow his way of life to become your way of life?

That invitation—through an angel’s announcement—is available to you, to me, to all of us—today.