receiving

The challenge of the Christmas season is to receive the God who comes, and not try to control, determine, or manipulate the how, where, or when of that coming.  But receiving is difficult.  It is not a comfortable posture for us.  We like the position of control, and the posture of receptivity is one of openness, vulnerability, and dependence.  It requires that we let go of our own plans, schemes, and agendas and trust, instead, in God's care, provision, and direction.  And that is a scary place to be, just ask Mary, or Elizabeth, or Zechariah, or Joseph.  The Advent and Christmas seasons are filled with people that had to learn how to receive, to let go, and to trust.  Sure this receptivity is difficult, but intimacy demands it.  We cannot have intimacy without a willingness to let go of control and simply receive what is being given.  And intimacy with the One who comes--the One who breathed us into being--is what we all most deeply long for.  So let us watch and wait and hope and trust and open our arms and our hearts to receive God, however, whenever, and wherever he might come.