“…for nothing will be impossible for God.”

 

Time seemed to slow into a lazy saunter. The angel hovered wispily, waiting, searching for a sign. The virgin breathed deeply, sinking into the unadorned vestibule of contemplation.

“Say no,” a haunting voice whispered with seething urgency. “This is too much, you are too small. What will people think? You are a child, a maiden, a nobody. This will only bring your family shame.  You will be nothing but shame”

The darkness hastened around her, blinding any glance into the future. Its weight pressed upon her with a suffocating vengeance, causing her trembling body to prostrate upon the floor. Her hands clenched in and out, grasping for truth, grasping for light.

The figure of the angel rippled like silk before her.

“Can this be true?” Her heart was racing with the rising tide of this promise. It echoed in the caverns of her weariness.

Could she dare to hope? Could she believe?

Suddenly, she felt a pang of pain and screamed out in agony. She was lying in a bed of vipers; they wrapped around her wrists, her waist, her throat.

“Say no,” the voice hissed, “You will only have heartbreak. This will ruin everything that you have planned.”

“Be not afraid,”  the angel spoke.  And peace settled like the dewfall.

The virgin wrestled with renewed vigor. Her limbs were bound but her heart had been liberated from the polished chains of doubt. She kissed the earth and rose onto her knees. The vipers tightened their coils around her neck, squeezing the air from her chest, but she bore a countenance of fierce and noble regality.

Heaven and earth were locked in a deathly embrace. The air quivered before the virgin’s lips in anticipation.

“You must speak!” she urged herself. “The world is waiting.”

With one last surging effort, she bowed her head and breathed through straining sinews,

 

“Let it be done unto me….”

 

A sparkling radiance enveloped her, piercing the room with a heavenly glow, and the vipers fell away in anguish, unable to withstand her touch.   Her womb was filled in a mystical moment and the treasures of her heart overflowed with grace.

 

And the Savior entered darkness.

And she was pregnant with peace and her peace was pregnant with patience.

And she waited.

 

                      And the world watched.

 

                                    And she watched.

 

                                                 And the world waited.

 

The star pointed, the time was appointed.

 

                       And the world was disjointed.

 

“Let it be done….”

 

And the Savior was born into darkness.

 

She felt a pang of joy and screamed out in delight. She was lying in a bed of straw; she swaddled His priestly wrists, His kingly waist, His prophetic throat.

She kissed the earth and rose onto her knees, bowing before His fierce and noble regality.

His promises are faithful. His promises are true.

And she held Him close to her heart, grasping His truth, grasping His light.

And her voice trilled in lilting harmony as she sang the first Christmas lullaby,

 

  A lullaby for the Adonai.