First Week of Advent, Thursday: Willingness

In the Heart of Winter: A Meditator’s Guide to Advent
How much time and energy is spent in our lives walking over and over the same ground, attempting to prove what we know and find comfort in predictability? To welcome God's guidance, to live in harmony with Spirit, we must be open moment to moment to what we do not know, cultivate a willingness to venture beyond the limits of what is comfortable and familiar, and let ourselves be guided by Truth.

Mother Teresa's prayer to live her life as “a pencil in the hand of God” says it simply and powerfully. Let my life be full. Let it be guided by something greater than the narrow reaches of self interest and ego. I am willing to be a divine instrument, surrendering to what is required for me to fulfill my divine destiny.

There are several accounts in the Advent story of individuals discovering within themselves the willingness to follow divine will. The themes of their stories are the same but their particular experiences are different. A big change in circumstances occurs; a call is intuited to embrace that change and to find it in a divine promise of fulfillment. Whether it is Mary, Joseph, the shepherds or kings, there is at first fear and wonder. What is this? Why is it happening? And why is it happening to me? There are times when our lives take a turn into unchartered territory and we are stunned by what we are experiencing. Why? We ask. Can this be divine will for my life? What good can come from this? Do I have what is necessary to take the next step?

Where is security and well-being to be found in times of uncertainty and great change? Mary’s response to the message from the angel Gabriel says it all: Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be unto me according to thy word. Her willingness is a demonstration of the peace to be found when we surrender into God. When become completely willing to follow divine guidance, we let go of the illusion that we are separate from God. We affirm and know that the word of God, the creative power of God, is already expressing in our life. This affirmation brings a sense of security and complete well-being. God is right where we are and all must ever be well with us.

Practice: Read over the accounts of the Christmas story in the New Testament (Matthew Ch. 1 and Luke Ch. 1) and notice how often something surprising or unexpected occurs. Each life in the story is touched by the mystery, and all are invited to grow in faith and willingness, thus becoming increasingly aware of God's guiding presence. Perhaps we can think of faith as the steps we take (small or large) into the darkness of the unknown with a willingness to believe in the light.

Contemplate:

For with God nothing shall be impossible…

And Mary said...let it be unto me according to thy word.

    -Luke 1:37-38

Free from desire,

you realize the mystery.

Caught in desire,

you see only the manifestations,

yet mystery and manifestations

arise from the same source.

This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness,

the gateway to all understanding.

    -The Tao Te Ching

Reflect: Think of willingness as complete openness to receive divine support. There are times that we face challenges in life that we do not know how to meet. Willingness is a powerful ally in these situations. We do what we are inspired to do, and what we can do, and we become willing for divine grace to meet us and show us the next step, or to provide for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Ask: Am I completely willing to awaken spiritually and be free?

I am willing to live in harmony with divine will?