After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

Luke 1:24-25, 39-45

FINDING JOY IN THE UNCERTAINTY

Elizabeth was an older, faithful woman of the Lord, who was unable to have children. When Elizabeth miraculously conceives, there are two things verses 24-25 tell us to be of significance—one, she gives thanks to God for what God has done, is doing, and how God has redeemed her amongst her people and the text tells us she was in seclusion for five months.

We have lived in a world for nearly two years now, where we still hesitate to get close to one another, to open our arms wide and fully wrap ourselves in the warm embrace of loving hugs. Even now, we hesitate to get too close, frightened of the next variant that might take away our chances of being together.

Up until now, I had never comprehended the line of the text that tells us Elizabeth was secluded for five months of her pregnancy. In the sixth month her cousin, Mary, is visited by an angel announcing her own miraculous conception and immediately she goes to be with Elizabeth whom she has learned is also expecting.

I can imagine both women were experiencing anxiety, fear, shock, and uncomfortable uncertainty for their futures and the futures of their children. Yet, in the midst of all of that uncertainty, the text writes of joy. The joy of this relationship, the joy of two very special babies growing, the joy of knowledge (no matter how limited) that God is at work in this world and has created a way and has chosen them to be a part of it.

I wonder if we might be able to find joy in the uncertainty we constantly live in? As we sit in the flickering lights of the candles of hope, peace, and now joy, may we remain open to the holy moments of joy that can be found even in the darkest of places.

Peace and Joy,
Margaret