Possibility

The Annunciation

Will you not give us life again,
   that your people may rejoice in you?  Psalm 85:6

Scenes of the Angel Gabriel visiting young Mary and announcing the incredible news that she is to be the theotokos, the Godbearer, seem more a part of early winter’s Christmas landscape than this brisk spring morning. Yet the forty weeks of Mary’s pregnancy must begin now if a babe is to be born on December 25th.  

For years my family has sat next to the Annunciation window on Sunday mornings. Throughout the year the light differs as it pours, seeps, splashes, or trickles through the stained glass, illuminating Mary, the angel, a holy spirit dove, an open book, lilies tucked into a corner, and radiating beams of light. I often contemplate this window, looking for clues to the miracle of the moment in the gloriously colored thick slabs of glass. What hidden treasures have I missed? What mystery compelled the artist to depict the scene in just this way? What does young Mary have to tell me?

Today she tells me that I too might be bearing abundant promise. I expect to find signs of new life in the wilderness. However, I realize I have been anticipating the seed that will blossom soon, filling the spring with energy. But it is also quite possible that deep within me, new life might just be beginning, not to show forth for another long season.


copyright © Anne E. Kitch 2014
Image credit: zatletic / 123RF Stock Photo