Fifteen days to Christmas. It never ceases to fascinate me when I think that in Manila, it’s fourteen days to Christmas. I always tell my friends back in Manila that I am living in the past and they’re living in the future. The time difference makes my present their past and their present is my future. It gives me goosebumps to think that the future has already taken place! We all fear the unknown and the unknown includes the future.
But isn’t that what we all hear the angel Gabriel announced to Mary in the days ahead: “Fear not, Mary; the future belongs to God! Embrace your present circumstance!” The story will tell us that an angel also visits Joseph who sincerely doubted the decision he had made about Mary. The angel proclaims: “Fear not, Joseph! The future belongs to God!” And so, together, hand in hand, accepting their situation as it is Mary and Joseph walk into their future together which, in the near term, will take them to the town of Bethlehem where there will be no room for them at the inn.
Trusting God with our future has the direct opposite effect of escape from the present. Radical trust allows us to thrust ourselves into the moment, living it as though it were our last, freeing us to do what must be done, to see the truth and to act accordingly. This trust is the mother of profound hope and drives every worthwhile human cause.
In Advent we’re invited to consider what life might be like if we actually trusted God’s future for our lives. There’s no prediction in this that life will be particularly easy or free from suffering. But it does predict that any present circumstance can be embraced with confidence because the future remains secure…it belongs to God. That’s the vision that grabbed hold of Isaiah, Mary, Joseph, John, and even Jesus, passed on for generations. The future has been set, God has gone ahead of us! It’s all good!
