Be the Blessing in the Brokenness

It’s that time of year again: twinkling lights, parties, familiar carols, cookies baking, tree decorating, and of course Christmas movie marathons! This season is one of my favorite times of year that fills me with exciting anticipation. However, I often have to pause to remember the “why” or rather the “who” of the Christmas craziness. His name is Jesus and He is truly the reason for the season and the joy we feel during this time. The story of our Savior coming to the World is beautiful and as I was re-reading it recently, there is a character in the background of this epic story I have glossed over until this year, the prophetess, Anna. This humble hero of faith is ascribed three verses to display her virtue and servitude, and as we will see, she is truly courageous.

We come to Luke chapter 2, an ever present passage during this time of year. The birth of Jesus is the most anticipated arrival to Earth recorded in the Bible. In the words of the angels who announced to the shepherds, “for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Finally, peace had come to Earth in the form of a baby boy, who would use His kingship, not to hold it against us, but to selflessly love us.

Hidden in the miraculous story of Peace coming to Earth when Mary and Joseph were presenting Jesus to the Lord at the temple, ( This was a custom of the Law of Moses for every male baby eight days after birth) we meet, Anna. “And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four…” (2:36-37a). So far, we learn that Anna is a prophetess and had been a virgin up until marriage, and after only seven years of being wed, her husband dies. Usually, only men are highlighted as prophets in the Bible, so to peek into the story of a prophetess is already unique- power to the ladies! At this point in the story, at age eighty-four, Anna has lived alone without a spouse for an unknown amount of time, therefore, we know she has not escaped heartache or the sting of loss in her lifetime. We can assume that she has cried many tears, yet gained much wisdom. It is a pattern throughout the Bible that through the sour times of life, the sweetness of God’s goodness teaches us life’s biggest lessons. And the sour times can also bring us life’s biggest blessings.

Continuing in verse 37, “She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.” The word “serving” in this verse means “to be bound; enslaved to; to worship.” Instead of wallowing in her sorrow or letting the sadness that hit her life define her, Anna worships and serves constantly. She is letting the low points of her life enslave her to God’s direction and to worship His character. Instead of complaining, she prayed. Instead of indulging her sinful passions, she fasted. Obviously, she had her moments of weakness as any human does, but we can see she is using the suffering given her as a catapult to jump into the heart of God. And Anna does this by focusing on what she does have, a Creator who loves her and a life she has to give away in service to others. Serving is shifting the focus from me, myself and I, to the people and tasks right in front of us. To love them sacrificially, to take their burdens upon us, to encourage them with words and deeds like Jesus did. In doing so, we will experience the powerful presence of God in the inconveniences- big and small- of life. In Genesis 12:2, God tells Abraham, “I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” And in the words of Job who lost everything, still he worships, “the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” This is the interwoven anthem of Anna’s life as she has turned her pain and problems into praise. We all have this incredible opportunity to experience the sunshine in the rain and we have been blessed with the good and bad to be a blessing.

Anna has lived her life turning her sorrow to surrender and in verse 38, we see the climax of her beautiful life when she sees face to face the Savior she loves! “At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” After His unlikely birth in Bethlehem, there she saw Him, the Savior she believed in by faith and the Messiah who would take away the sins of the world, and what did she do? She “began giving thanks…” The years of sorrow, “why’s”, anxiety, and loneliness faded in the face of the light and joy to the world. Even Anna, a widow too soon, old in years and deep hurts, not only thanks God for it all but she points others to His redemptive love. This is what dying to self looks like. This is what serving like Jesus looks like. “…although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself…” Phil. 2:5-7a. An emptying that filled everyone of us up with acceptance and a hopeful today and tomorrow.

I just finished reading a book called “A loving Life” (if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend!) and at the very end the author talks about forgetting ourselves in the lives of others. He puts it this way, “We really have only two choices in life: a divided self or a multiplied self. We can either splinter into a thousand selves or live a thousand lives.” As God has been teaching me through Anna’s life, I have tried to be intentional about serving those in front of me. I’ve failed at this time and again, but let me tell ya, seeking to serve like Jesus instead of sit in despair is a pure gift. When Jesus is the center of our thoughts and the intention of our actions, God flips that bad day into grace. That heartache into help from Him. That delay into redemption. That loss into fulfillment. That diagnosis into dependency on Him. That drama into reconciliation. And that person who is really hard to love? He turns into a divine encounter to forgive.

We need Jesus for all these things and I am so thankful He decided to leave His perfect heavenly home to be Emmanuel, God with us. Let’s follow the example of Anna and Jesus this Holiday season and every season by courageously serving. Let’s be on the lookout to be a blessing, for like Anna, it will all be worth it when people surrender to the Savior. For He looks into the deepest hurts and daily inconveniences to turn a unexpected birth in Bethlehem into the greatest blessing this World has ever known.

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” -J.R.R. Tolkien

I pray that you will all be immeasurably blessed this Christmas and beyond…

-Dee