"The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.' Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be." (Luke 1:28-29) Sometimes when God calls us to do his work it is perplexing and troubling and maybe even frightening. Because, really, who are we to do God's work? That seems to have been Mary's reaction to the news that she was favoured by God. "Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you." I can imagine Mary's reaction. It would probably be something like, "Uh oh. What does he want?" Caution, suspicion, even fear. That would be a normal response. Let's face it. God generally calls us to do the things we'd really rather not do. If we really wanted to do them, after all, we'd be doing them already. And when God calls us, we say "Uh oh. What do you want? Really? You must want someone else. It couldn't be me." Because, really, why would it be me? Or you? Who are we that God should call us? And even in the Bible, so many of those called by God didn't want to be called by God and sometimes tried to avoid and escape from that divine call. Because God asks us to do tough things, not easy things. So we think - "there must be someone else." Even Mary was troubled and perplexed and frightened by God's call. But when you stop and think about it - who else is there? Who else will God call? And if it really is God calling, then surely God must see in us the ability to do what we feel called to do. We just have to listen for the call. We have to try to figure out who our "angel" is - who it is who speaks God's word to us and brings God's call to us - because, after all, an angel is a messenger, and not necessarily a spiritual being. Mary responded to her angel. She was troubled by it all, but she responded. I guess we should too, when we're convinced that God is calling. Have a great week, and a very merry Christmas!
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