I can’t swim. I still can’t forget how I felt the first time, and as I write this, the last time I travelled on a speedboat. I had a life jacket on. I made sure I sat in the middle of the boat, and I held on tight to the people on my left and my right. I did everything my mind came up with, just to make sure I was safe before the journey started, and I was grateful I did. The journey was scary as anticipated. I can still see myself trying to smile at the camera of the person who decided to take selfies, right in the middle of my fear. I didn’t have to be part of the picture, and I definitely didn’t have to smile at the camera, but hey, documenting the moment wasn’t such a bad idea, right?
Well, just when I was getting a bit comfortable with the ride, someone looked at me and said, “The water is calm and you’re this scared? How then will you react, if you were traveling on turbulent waters?” I didn’t have an answer. Answering that question wasn’t as important that moment, but I believe the water decided to give me a feel of what the person was talking about. Another boat, coming from the opposite direction, rode by us at a speed higher than ours. Can you guess what happened next?
I will tell you what happened. The water became uncomfortable, and it took out its frustration on our boat. The water tossed our boat up, down, sideways, backwards, and forward. You might think my description isn’t accurate. I think so too, but to be honest, that’s how I felt sitting in the boat. Was I scared to death? Yes. The only consoling part of it all was that everyone agreed that the rider of the other boat was too reckless to have driven so close to us at such high speed. So, being scared to death wasn’t out of place.
What do Boats, Sails, Uncomfortable Waters and a scared-to-death Me have to do with Christmas?
It’s simple. For a few years now, every Christmas season, I try to read and meditate on the Christmas story, and wait for the Holy Spirit to give me a word to hold onto throughout the season. This year, as I meditated, Mary’s side of the Christmas story just couldn’t leave my head.
In Luke 1: 26-56, we see the very young Mary’s encounter with Angel Gabriel:
Gabriel appeared to her and said, “…You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendant forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Mary asked just one question, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
Gabriel’s answer was very simple, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…”
Take a short pause…
Now, let me ask you, don’t you think Mary’s acceptance was profound and very quick? How do you accept such a fate, without considering how it was going to change your life forever? Angel Gabriel only told her how she was going to get pregnant. He didn’t tell her how every other thing was going to play out. Yet her response to that was, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” How was she not bothered about what Joseph and every other person was going to think about her, when they found out that she was pregnant?
In those days and age, being pregnant outside of wedlock was a shameful thing. You even stood a chance of getting stoned to death. Didn’t that bother Mary?
Did you know that a few days later, she hurried to the hill country of Judea to visit her relative Elizabeth, whom the Angel had told her about? Going to see Elizabeth was a sign that she was all in on God’s plan. God used Elizabeth to confirm what the Angel had said to her. When Mary got this confirmation, she sang a song of praise to God.
Like Mary, God has a whole lot of promises for us. Like Mary’s journey, the sail to the promise isn’t always going to be smooth. When the waters we sail on become uncomfortable and turbulent, and we know we can’t control the waters, our first response is usually anxiety or worry. Some people might even get so scared, like I was on that boat ride. It would have been a bit better if we only got anxious, worried, or scared. However, we usually don’t stop there. We try to fix everything. we become restless. We lose our peace. We try to explain ourselves to everyone. We try to prove people wrong. We try to save ourselves. Unfortunately, all these responses only reveal one thing: we don’t have faith in the God who made the promise.
Do you remember Jesus, his disciples, the boat and the storm? Can you remember Jesus telling his disciples, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith”? (SEE Matthew 8:23-27)
Is it scary to be in the heart of uncomfortable waters? Yes. Even the one who knows how to swim like a fish can still get drown. But let’s learn from Mary this Christmas. Mary didn’t know that the story of her life would become a big deal every year, all around the world. She simply said “yes” to God and trusted Him.
Did her pregnancy bring trouble to her? Well, almost. Her fiancé, Joseph, was already set to end their engagement. If he had, she would have been left alone to explain how she got pregnant. God knew it all. So, even while Joseph was still thinking about what to do, God showed up. God calmed the troubled waters. Jesus, our Saviour, was born. And here we are, thousands of years later, celebrating the birth of Jesus again.
If you believe that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present, trust God with the journey of your story. God is working everything together for your good.
My prayer for you and me:
As we celebrate this Christmas, may our faith in God grow stronger and firmer, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Get in the gym,
Stay spiritually fit.
Merry Christmas.
