"Let it be to me as you have said"

In my advent reading today I crashed through the line, "From the body that God gave to her, she gave to God a body."

My first response was slight offence; what a Catholic thought... that Holy Virgin Mary GAVE very God a body. How audacious. How presumptuous. As if any mere mortal sinner could give to God. But then I softened into the thought a bit. Every mother "gives" her child a body in that her body's being is used to make another's body. It is always the Almighty who knits them together, whether it was Olivia's body, Caleb's body, little Nathaniel's body (who had better give his mom a break and actually be born today), or the precious body of Christ, our sacrificial lamb... And that is the mystery. That God would do a holy work, with what faith filled humanity Mary had to offer.

One of my earliest visits to a Catholic service was New Years. The subject was Mary and being raised Protestant, I was a bit skeptical as to the subject mater. I was surprised to hear the priest say, however, that Mary is revered not because she is other than we, but because her obedient faith (a gift in itself) opened the way for the truth of Emmanuel to be clearly illustrated for us. The miracle that happened in 9 months time for her, is the same that we are called to live out for our entire lives. For God to be made manifest in my life is not of my doing, but merely of my surrendering and asking, "let it be to me as you have said". And as "God of God, and Light from Light, true God from true God" grew in her until Christ was born to the world, I desire that Christ be magnified in me until the glory of the gospel pours out from me into every crevice of life I touch.

I stand on the edge of huge change- I am days away from becoming a pastor's wife. I feel inadequate. I feel unprepared. I feel like my design is not compatible with the role I'm going to play. But isn't that the same mystery? Mary's design was not compatible with giving life to very God. But God used her frail dust-like frame, gave her a faith filled heart, and Hope was born from her. Oh, Lord! Let it be to me as you have said!