Expect Miracles

Luke 1:45, “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

I have a bracelet someone gave me at a speaking engagement that says, “Expect Miracles.” I wear that bracelet often just as a reminder. To live life expecting miracles is a personal challenge for me, as I am not an optimistic person by nature. I tend to expect the worst and hope for the best—but is that the way God wants me to live? Is that the victory Jesus came to give us?

At this time of year, our thoughts naturally turn to the Christmas story—especially to a certain young, unwed mother who found herself playing a key role in God’s plan for the salvation of mankind. I have often wondered: Why did God choose Mary to be the mother of Jesus? What did she do that got God’s attention?

As I read the scriptures, I realize that Mary was a young woman who expected miracles. I think this attitude was a large part of why God chose her. In her encounter with the angel, he tells her this amazing, unbelievable news. Where some of us (me) might be inclined to argue, reason or refuse the angel’s revelation, Mary wasn’t. She accepted his news with grace and humility. She embraced God’s call on her life without rationalizing any part of it. She expected this miracle and willingly submitted to it. She assumed God would do exactly what He said He would do and began to live accordingly.

Mary’s song in Luke 1 reflects her heart’s cry to embrace this miracle in her life, at all costs. We read: “From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.” (Luke 1:48-49) The interesting thing about this is that she is responding to what she has been promised will happen, but not what has actually happened. Mary is truly walking out the calling of a Christian life, to live by faith and not by sight.

Mary’s song reminds me once again to expect miracles; to invite the extraordinary into my ordinary. To stop living life rushing from one urgency to the next and look at God’s opportunities all around me. To say to the God of the universe, “I am ready to experience miracles big and small, and I will live accordingly. I want to see You at work, Lord, and I want to participate in Your activity on this earth.” This Christmas, and in the coming year, I hope that we can all begin to live life expecting miracles all along the way.