You will conceive in your womb and bear a child.
—Luke 1.31
It is not my effort, nor another’s word,
but your presence in me that sanctifies me.
Yet you ask me to choose.
Am I willing for a great thing to unfold in me?
Am I ready to let go of my excuse of inadequacy?
Will I bear the great changes,
the weight of a life that is not mine but Yours?
Am I willing to be inconvenienced,
thrown off balance, discomforted?
Will I nourish the Holy One within me?
Will I choose even against my own self interest
for the sake of the Divine within me?
Will I chose what is good for the Child
even if it is hard or painful?
Can I be mindful always
that You are within me, growing, fragile, holy,
bearing light and life?
Let this be my hope:
not seeing you, but knowing you are within me,
bearing you into this world.
—December 19, 2017