One for Christmas

One.

One young girl.

One scared teenaged girl, in the dark of the morning, sees a powerful figure enter her small bedchamber. She shrinks into a corner as a glowing light fills the room. Suddenly, he speaks, his deep voice resonates, vibrating the floor-

Good morning!
   You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,
   Beautiful inside and out!
   God be with you.  Luke 1:28 The Message

Somehow, a sense of total goodness fills the room! She feels an incredible peace emanating from the figure, coupled with a piercing sensation of rightness and truth. Her senses are completely overwhelmed and she begins shaking with abject fear. Again he speaks, this time in a calming whisper-

 Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. Luke 1:30-31 The Message

“But, but, but I’m not,

I’ve never,

Joseph hasn’t,

Oh, Joseph!

But why me?

Why now?

But, how?

Who?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, ….nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1  NIV

Minutes pass, or was it years?

“Yes”, she whispers finally. “Yes! I don’t know why, but yes”.

Her voice raising, “I don’t know how, but yes!

“Yes!” she finally shouts, Yes!”

And in the dark of that morning, before the son came up, before the Son came,

In a blinding flash of heat and light,

With a rush of wind,

Lifting, holding, covering,

The voice. That Voice! Was it the pound of ocean waves?  The crash of thunder? The piercing blast of a trumpet? Or all of them rolled into a single quiet voice filled with power, peace, and love-

“I am!” the Voice said.

“He is!” the Voice spoke again.

And heaven came down,

and Glory filled,

filled her soul, her mind, her heart, her all!

And then there were

Two.