Advent teaches about saying yes to God

Saying yes to a call from God brings us to enter upon offering a radical trust because God is taking us beyond what we had imagined or could conceive.

Far from a business contract where we tell God what we are willing to give or list the conditions which are acceptable to us for entering this negotiation, we say yes to what is uncertain, but full of promise.  It is not for the faint hearted to those seeking to control the outcome.  Perhaps that is why many today find it hard to say yes to a call from God.

How beautifully Advent teaches us about saying yes to God.  In a very particular way Mary and Joseph model for us the trusting hope one can find when faith takes us beyond fear and beyond having to have an exact script that God is expected to provide.  “Into your hands …” becomes more than a nice or plant phrase.  “Not my will, but yours ,,,” isn’t a theory or ides but becomes acceptance that there will be hard and even unpleasant parts to living my response to God.

And whatever may be difficult is of much less proportion compared to what God is offering me.