Yielded: A Guided Advent Meditation

Consider: Mary’s yielded, trusting, willing spirit leads us in the path of knowing “all things are possible with God.” This three-fold prayer, perhaps prayed and practiced by Mary throughout her life, becomes our roadmap to knowing a deeply intimate relationship with God, fully given over to the Divine way and word. And while this prayer is self-surrender, it paradoxically ushers in a wild freedom to experience the fullness of God’s heart as our purest identity.

Meditate:

• In this quiet moment ask God for the grace of a willing heart that may at times resist surrender, but at the same time longs for such freedom without fear.

• Begin this self-surrender with three words: “Hear I am.” Observe yourself as you are today, the physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental state of being. “Here I am. Anxious…content… bored…restless…excited…distracted…” In whatever condition you find yourself, turn your whole self toward God and given fully to the Divine initiative as you whisper, “Here I am.”

• Move to the second stage of surrender, offering yourself as “a servant of the Lord.” Consider the posture of a servant who awaits the instruction of the Lord to set the pace and plan the activity for this day, and life in the days to come. Offer your desire to be a willing “participant in the Divine nature” and listen for what arises within your soul. Do you resist this offering of self and release of your own agenda, or can you hold it all loosely before God? Continue to bring yourself to this stillness with the words, “Here I am.” And remain still and quiet for a few minutes.

• And finally offer yourself to God saying, “Let it be with me according to your word.” Listen for that specific word or instruction rising within your spirit. And if all is silent, let the silence be the word spoken to live out during this day. Hold that word within your heart for a few minutes then record it in your journal along with any thoughts, emotions, desires that accompany it.

• End this time with the same prayer to take with you through this week, “Here I am, a servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word, Amen.”