let every heart prepare Him room

a question of the heart

Oh, Beloved, I wish I could hold up a mirror that would reflect for you the brave and beautiful heart Your Father sees within you! For it is my fear that you see only its mangled deficiencies, lacking hope to believe in the glory that is being born anew every day. You are not alone in this.

We have lately been swept up into a tangled net of deception, cunningly set to strip us of hope and submerge us in confusion, isolation, and discouragement. The calendar broadcasts a season of Light, and we dutifully veil our inner darkness with a veneer of celebration. Fully aware that we are lying to ourselves, we seek to keep at bay the One who sees us.

Foolish? Or simply desperate? Likely both …

Is there a way out?

I’d like to suggest there is. But I’ll warn you: it’s no festive checklist, geared toward having your home holiday-ready in seven easy steps. It’s more like a heart overhaul, aimed at ripping off the shivering skin of pretense and offering the Healer gut-level access to your raw inadequacies.

only one thing is necessary

If you felt a chill go over you just now, allow me to interpret that thrilling yet unnerving sensation. It’s the hidden life inside you, resonating with the Spirit’s invitation and reaching out toward that breath of hope. Conversely, you feel the shudder of the enemy, who has been working like hell to keep you down. Scripture tells us that the flesh and the Spirit are at war within us (see Galatians 5:17). This hint of battle clash that you felt just now is evidence that your very freedom is at stake?

Will you engage?

I know, I know: you have so much on your plate right now! It’s almost Christmas Eve, after all.

But may I suggest that “ … you are worried and distracted by many things; but only one thing is necessary …” (Luke 10:41-42 NASB).

Indeed, only one. 

And if you do not decide on your own to come away for a while and attend to this core need, the Lord who is jealous for your heart will find a way to make Himself heard. (Case in point: Why else would I have found myself confined to my couch for the past week, at the most wonderful time of the year? Some of us are stubborn about receiving what is good for us. I’m listening, Lord … I’m listening!)

a heart like Mary’s

Let me invite you to consider with me the heart of another Mary—truly, as brave and as beautiful a heart as any of us could ever hope to possess.

Well, could we? Come to cultivate a heart like hers, that is? A heart that is willing, obedient, trusting, hopeful, humble, worshipful … So that we, too, may be worthy vessels to welcome the Life of God within us, and prepared to deliver that life to the world?

Oh, friend … I believe that is exactly what our Lord desires for us! Over the next three days, as your outward preparations come to a climax, will you take just a few quiet moments away to tend to your own precious heart? Let us offer to our God the most beautiful gift: a heart prepared.

And coming in, [Gabriel] said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was very perplexed at this statement, and was pondering what kind of greeting this was. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.“

Luke 1:28-31 NASB

a willing heart

One of the first things we learn about Mary in Scripture is her willingness to receive the impossible from God. The angel messenger, for one. After all, 400 years of silence from God could hardly have prepared an unremarkable peasant girl from Nazareth to expect as likely—or even possible!—an angelic visitation from Him. And then, the substance of his communication?! Devout though she must have been, Mary could hardly be blamed for requesting clarification. “Perplexed” is an underwhelming choice to describe the sensations and questions that surely must have whirled through her soul.

Despite all this—the shock of being so singled out; the incongruity of her circumstances; the magnitude of the plan that was about to be set in motion—Mary’s response was utterly in keeping with the kind of heart God honors.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” ~ Luke 1:38 NIV

She was willing.

Mary didn’t need to understand. She didn’t try to justify, protest, or excuse. She must have clearly recognized that all the angel foretold was far beyond her ability to comprehend or control. And yet, from a place of simple faith and heroic courage, she submits her will to that of her Father and announces her desire to obey. In so doing, she foreshadows another watershed moment in the outworking of the gospel, as we will later hear her own Son echo this posture of her heart with, “Not My will, but Thine be done,” (see Luke 22:42).

And so, mother and Son model for us the vital position for our own hearts in this season, offering the first question for us to ponder:

Am I willing?

continue to part 2 ...