The photo above is of the “Virgen de la Esperanza” in the cathedral in Leon, Spain in 2022.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the incarnation lately. After all, it is Advent, that season of waiting, expectation, and preparation leading up to Christmas when we celebrate Jesus’ birth – the Word of God appearing in our world. So I’ve been pondering God inhabiting both the confines and the blessed possibilities of human flesh and blood.

Carrying and awaiting a child, I’ve been feeling closer to Mary as she discovers what it means to be pregnant, to celebrate with family, and converse with neighbors about the child she’s expecting. But I’ve also been thinking about her profound “yes” to being the Theotokos or “God bearer.” About how she says “yes” to something she cannot fully comprehend – how she proclaims, and later even sings, her “yes,” to the mysterious workings of God.

Artist Kelly Latimore has created a stunning icon entitled “Mary: Love Forever Being Born” which shows in radiant color, the expansive universe of possibility Mary’s “yes” creates. Likewise, reading Scott Erickson’s Honest Advent as my devotional this season has underlined in powerful artwork and reflections the vulnerability of both God and Mary in God’s bold move to become human and take up residence with us.

Each of us has the capability of bringing new things to life – of saying “yes” to what is mysterious or unknown and allowing the process of imagination and creation to unfold in us. And that’s not just about having children. It’s about what is becoming real – what is taking on bone, sinew, and tissue in our lives. What we are capable of bringing into existence, nourishing, or nurturing.

As I “ponder these things in my heart” this Advent, there is a desire in me to be incarnating joy, creativity, connection and relationship, hope, love, and peace in my life. Part of that looks like being curious and courageous enough to try new things even if I’m not sure how these experiments will go. Some of these attempts don’t go well (ahem…they downright fail spectacularly!), but some of them open up even more possibilities in the future.

I’m thinking of the icon I’m working on with a pattern I created based off of a photograph and how this process might make icons of contemporary folks attainable. Or how two years after buying the “Puppy Toes Bauble” knitting kit for a Christmas ornament using a technique (stranded colorwork) that was aspirational for me, I’m slowly learning how to do it. It’s been amazing to see the graphic designs appear in the yarn stitch by stitch and I’m so pleased at how it’s coming out! I was intimidated and overwhelmed by this technique, but after trying my hand at some simpler colorwork first, I gained confidence to try my hand at this new skill and surprised myself in the process. Is it perfect? Nope! But it’s enough to show me once again that it is possible to do new, different, and hard things.

What happens when we say “yes” to trying something new?
When we say “yes” to embracing mystery and uncertainty, and even some discomfort?
What new prospects and potentialities are created through us, born of dreams, curiosity, courage, and faith?

As I admitted above, sometimes our attempts fall short or our naive and optimistic ventures morph into misadventures, but even in that process, we are still learning.

Everything becomes grist for the mill as we discover in our own lives and through what forms in us, how to be human. How to bear or show forth in the mundane the divine image in which we were created. How to bring greater love, imagination, joy, and hope to birth in ourselves and our communities. How to be open to mystery and simultaneously vulnerable and courageous enough to say “yes” when we don’t know how things will play out.

In this season, may we echo Mary’s words in our own lives, stepping across the threshold into creative and mysterious possibility: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

© Annabelle P. Markey