Sunday, December 12, 2010 Fifteenth Day of Advent

Sunday, December 12^th

Luke 1:38 – http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=158554131

Have It Your Way

Mary was visited by an angel and was given unsolicited, life changing news – and her response?  “Let it be with me according to your word.”  Mary’s simple and faithful acceptance of God’s will is a model of faithfulness for modern Christians.  We live in a society obsessed with the freedom to do things “my way.”  We live in a “Have it Your Way” culture, as Burger King puts it in their slogan, and Mary’s faithful words sound strange to our modern sensibilities.  But we have much to learn from Mary’s acceptance, for she can respond to God with such a simple “yes” because she ultimately trusts more deeply in the wisdom of God than in her own ability to plan her life.  Even God’s crazy and impossible plan was a better option to Mary than her own life plan.

It is difficult, however, for us to imagine accepting God’s will when it is inconvenient or seems crazy.  It is often difficult for us to obey God when God’s will goes against our sensibilities.  I invite you today to practice giving up the desire to “have it your way” by submitting to other peoples preferences.  You might let someone else choose what’s for dinner or what movie to watch, or you might let a colleague have their way on a project.  By allowing other people to have it their way, we may learn to obey God when God wants us to do things God’s way.

Kid Challenge: Have you ever wanted something really, really, really bad, maybe bad enough to cry for it?  Sometimes we want things to go our way and we forget that God wants us to live God’s way.  We need to practice caring more about God’s way than our way.  Your challenge today is to skip doing something you really want to do in order to spend time with God.  You might read your Bible instead of playing video games, or you might pray instead of watching your favorite TV show.

Advent Blessings,

Laura

This Christmas, give the gift that only you can give,
                                  ...give yourself this Christmas (Peter Mayer)