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| Making Room in Advent: 25 Devotions for a Season of Wonder by Bette Dickinson |
How can you embrace your limits to make room for God this Advent? + Bette Dickinson, Making Room in Advent
As we step into my favorite time of year, the season of Advent, wonder and curiosity continue to be key themes for me that I'm marveling in the mystery of. I also continue to ponder the late great Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's quote,
“Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and He gave it to me.”
With these in mind, I celebrate Bette Dickinson's Making Room in Advent: 25 Devotions for a Season of Wonder. Bette is not only a gifted Advent artist (Emmaus City Church has displayed her artwork including the Annunciation piece above that is on the cover of Making Room in Advent), she also is a gifted author. Her Advent book is a beautiful and powerful devotional during this season. Below is an excerpt that I hope encourages you today as it has me.
Advent | Making Room for Limits by Bette Dickinson
Luke 1:34-38
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.
37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
God has this huge plan to change all of history, but the way He invites Mary to participate in this work is different from what we might have expected. He doesn’t expect her to be strong or smart or famous or able to multitask well. He doesn’t ask her to be Superwoman and save the world. He has plans to do that Himself. God invites Mary into partnership by asking to dwell within the confines of who she already is.
+ What does Mary need in order to host the Messiah?
She needs to make herself available — to make room physically, emotionally, and spiritually for him to dwell within her and stretch her into something new. Mary is disturbed and afraid, but she yields herself to the God who formed her with these words: I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.
It is in this moment — this brilliant entry point — that the incarnation is conceived in Mary’s reserved but willing yes. As creation yields to Creator, He breathes in her the breath of life to form the timeless into something new. And as He grows within her, she too will expand to accommodate what is beyond her understanding.
The transcendent God will inhabit and yet stretch within the limits of her humanity. And ours too, if we are willing. The Spirit of God that hovered over creation hovers over us, waiting for us to yield to allow an eternal God to dwell within our limited human form. He doesn’t ask us to rise above our limits. Instead, he comes to us in the midst of them.
+ What if our limits are not an obstacle but an invitation?
+ What if our limits are the very place where heaven touches earth?
Ponder
How can you embrace your limits to make room for God this Advent?
Pray
Inhale: God, You chose limits …
Exhale: … so I can too.
+ Adapted excerpts above from Day 8: Making Room for Limits in Making Room in Advent
Bonus Bette Dickinson post: Advent CN | Making Room for Outsiders, including Emmanuel
Here are links to other recent City Notes (CN) books:
A Time To Heal (Shalom); Red Skies; Story of God in a Sanitation Truck; The Artistry of What's Next; Seeds of Hope in the Rain & the Dark; The Church is the Most Corrupt Institution on Earth; Wrestling with God in Doubt; Taste Grace in World of Seculosity; I've Seen What Hope Can Do; Baptism as the Way of Life; The Cross and Peacemaking Presence; Pray As You Can; Knowing and Naming True Friends; Gifted Saintly Identity; Listening Closely & Paying Attention; Living and Loving Curiously with Wonder; Praying with Mary and Jesus
With presence, peace, and many prayerful blessings,
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