Perhaps the character I'd most like to be in the Christmas story is one that showed up a little late to the party. Eight days after the Big Event, to be precise. Her name is Anna.
Anna was a prophetess. There really hadn't been any of those walking around Israel for about four hundred years. Before Anna, there had been a time termed "The Silent Years" ... that time from the end of Malachi to the beginning of Matthew. God had made His people wait.
But then ... then something awesome happened. He began to stir in the hearts of some of the people an awareness that it was almost time. Time to be ready. Time to keep eyes wide open. Time to fast, pray, and look. Time to start preparing hearts who would listen. John the Baptist lept in Elizabeth's womb. Anna and Simeon hung around the Temple. I'm certain there were others who also knew something was coming.
But I love Anna.
She had been a widow for 84 years. She was right around the ripe old age of one hundred. She was not living in a state of mourning, but in one of expectant exultation. She stayed in the Temple, all the time, just fasting and praying. And one day, a young couple walks in with their 8 day old son and she starts leaping and dancing and shouting with excitement!
I bet the people -those other devout, religious people- thought she was insane. I bet they were worried she would fall and break a hip. The loved the same God, read the same Scriptures. But they didn't get it. She did.
I doubt she really cared what people thought. She knew. She knew it was He - the One she had been waiting for!
You see, Anna was so in tune with the heart of the Father and so in love with Him, that she recognized Him even in His unexpected infant form. She recognized what others missed. Her entire life was spent with bated breath, waiting for that one moment when she would see His face. He didn't need to deliver her, heal her, overthrow a government. She just needed to glimpse His face.
God, I want to love You with that abandon. I want to want to see Your face so badly that nothing else matters. I want to long for such intimacy with You that when I catch a glimpse of You - in whatever way You choose to appear ... even if it's not what I've expected or asked for - that I am exuberantly excited. Bring me closer, Beloved!
Anna was a prophetess. There really hadn't been any of those walking around Israel for about four hundred years. Before Anna, there had been a time termed "The Silent Years" ... that time from the end of Malachi to the beginning of Matthew. God had made His people wait.
But then ... then something awesome happened. He began to stir in the hearts of some of the people an awareness that it was almost time. Time to be ready. Time to keep eyes wide open. Time to fast, pray, and look. Time to start preparing hearts who would listen. John the Baptist lept in Elizabeth's womb. Anna and Simeon hung around the Temple. I'm certain there were others who also knew something was coming.
But I love Anna.
She had been a widow for 84 years. She was right around the ripe old age of one hundred. She was not living in a state of mourning, but in one of expectant exultation. She stayed in the Temple, all the time, just fasting and praying. And one day, a young couple walks in with their 8 day old son and she starts leaping and dancing and shouting with excitement!
I bet the people -those other devout, religious people- thought she was insane. I bet they were worried she would fall and break a hip. The loved the same God, read the same Scriptures. But they didn't get it. She did.
I doubt she really cared what people thought. She knew. She knew it was He - the One she had been waiting for!
You see, Anna was so in tune with the heart of the Father and so in love with Him, that she recognized Him even in His unexpected infant form. She recognized what others missed. Her entire life was spent with bated breath, waiting for that one moment when she would see His face. He didn't need to deliver her, heal her, overthrow a government. She just needed to glimpse His face.
God, I want to love You with that abandon. I want to want to see Your face so badly that nothing else matters. I want to long for such intimacy with You that when I catch a glimpse of You - in whatever way You choose to appear ... even if it's not what I've expected or asked for - that I am exuberantly excited. Bring me closer, Beloved!
25 Days of Christmas Series:
25 Days of Christmas: Home for the Holidays @ Graceful Abandon
25 Days of Easy Christmas Crafts for Toddlers & Preschoolers @ Sidetracked Sarah
25 Days of Christmas Traditions @ Sharing the Journey
25 Days of Simple Christmas @ Simply Living for Him
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