Christmas Joy & Christmas Surrender

For several days, a certain Christmas song, “Breath of Heaven,” kept coming on, and I wondered to myself, “God, what are you trying to speak to me through this old Amy Grant song from the 90s?” Well, I got my answer one day at Mass. Truly, it was a lesson of Christmas joy and Christmas surrender.

At church on the last Sunday of Advent, I was deeply touched by these words in the song which was sung by our choir during the Offertory. The words, “I offer all I am for the mercy of your plan. Help me be strong, help me be strong, help me be” struck me. Tears streamed down my face and I wondered if this is really what Christmas felt like for Mary, because it’s certainly how I feel as a young woman as I try to surrender my life to God and even know what exactly it means to do so.

A surrender of her plan.
A giving in to the will of God.
An offering of herself.
A plea for strength and help as she walked this journey of bearing the child Jesus.

Christmas is about the joy of Jesus entering the world, but let’s not forget that he came because of a young woman’s brave surrender to God’s plan and offering her whole self to the Lord - her mind, body and soul. As a young woman, I know that there are joys, sacrifices and struggles in God’s plan, and I wonder if Mary felt all of these things too.

It’s not easy to give your whole life -- your dreams, your desires, your body, and your plans to God. It's a sacrifice.

I wonder if, in addition to feeling blessed and overjoyed with being the Lord’s handmaid and mother of Jesus, she questioned whether she had the strength for the journey to bear and rear the child of God. I wonder if she felt not only a privilege, but also a burden of being specially chosen of all women. I wonder if she grieved over the loss of her own plan for her life. I wonder if she felt like she was weak and needed God’s hands to hold her and help her with each step she took in response to his call.

I wonder at this young woman, with awe and mystery.

The question for us this Christmas is, like Mary, what is God asking you to give for the mercy of his plan and bringing Christ into the world?

God always asks something of us. Just like Christ teaches us that we can’t have resurrection without carrying the cross, Mary teaches us that we can’t have Christmas joy without a Christmas surrender.