Bearing Love: Elizabeth Waited
“She kept to herself for five months.”
-Luke 1:25
Be honest… we skip Elizabeth’s birth story most years. Perhaps, we discuss the already gestating John leaping within her womb, but Elizabeth’s story is easy to rush past. It is the preamble and interlude to the real story we celebrate. And don’t get me wrong, I love the annunciation, Mary’s song, the journey to Bethlehem, the angels, the shepherds, Mary pondering it all in her heart. However, Advent is a spiritual discipline in being present and finding meaning in the moment. If you haven’t read it in a while, stop and really read this passage and just sit in these moments with Elizabeth.
Read: Luke 1:5-25; 57-66
Waiting with Elizabeth is like the waiting we do hovering over a pregnancy test. In just two minutes, a million scenarios rush through your head and all the emotions that go with them. What if it’s a yes? What will change? How will I tell my family and friends? Am I really ready? And, what if it’s a no? Will I feel relieved? Will I feel disappointed? Am I really ready?
Unfortunately for Elizabeth, she didn’t have a two-minute clear blue test with proof that her changing body wasn’t menopause or an unknown illness, but a miraculous pregnancy announced to her husband in the holy of holies. I am sure Zachariah did try to communicate this news to Elizabeth. (You have to imagine that was one lively game of charades before heading to the bedroom.) I just also imagine that a woman who has accepted that she is barren may wait until she is really, really sure to allow herself to believe and hope.
I wonder if these five months felt like bedrest, a period that I can only imagine to be the most emotionally exhausting rest. Elizabeth waited to share her news. She waited until it was undeniable that “this is what the Lord has done.” She waited until the likelihood of miscarriage had dropped significantly, as she headed into her third trimester. She waited until her belly swelled, and she could start to make out the movements of a child rippling across her abdomen. Elizabeth’s story teaches us something about waiting.
Seclusion, and sometimes silence (like Zachariah’s) help to prepare us in the Advent season. Time alone can help us to clear out the noise of the world around us so that when we do encounter God at work in this world our soul’s leap within us to point it out. Waiting like Elizabeth is learning to find space to just be. There is work to be done for the kingdom, but in Advent we wait to discern where God is already working and where we might join God’s labors. Waiting is a part of our faith’s work.
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Annette Johnson shares her experience as a surrogate carrier. After having five children of her own (“keepers”), she endeavored to help make a family. Her experience of learning to be as so much of the process was different from her own pregnancies mirrors Elizabeth’s story well. CW: infertility, IVF, infant loss.
