Adventing

There is something awe-inspiring about being pregnant at Christmas-time. As Jamie and I wait for our little Benjamin to arrive, we also wait for the arrival of Jesus. I read this excerpt from one of my favorite authors in an Advent Calendar in Christianity Today, and felt it provided an intimate glimpse into the waiting for God-incarnate to be birthed.

Was there a moment, known only to God, when all the stars held their breath, when the galaxies paused in their dance for a fraction of a second, and the Word, who had called it all into being, went with all his love into the womb of a young girl, and the universe started to breathe again, and the ancient harmonies resumed their song, and the angels clapped their hands for joy?

Power. Greater power than we can imagine, abandoned, as the Word knew the powerlessness of the unborn child, still unformed, taking up almost no space in the great ocean of amniotic fluid, unseeing, unhearing, unknowing. Slowly growing, as any human embryo grows, arms and legs and a head, eyes, mouth, nose, slowly swimming into life until the ocean in the womb is no longer large enough, and it is time for birth.

Madeleine L'Engle, from Bright Evening Star.