By Kayla Young

For most of my life I have thought that the Bible was filled with oxymorons. Maybe that is not the best way to start out a spiritual blog, but it is true. We are to have joy in the middle of persecution (you know, tortured and hated but happy!). Or free to serve…. uh what? That’s not normally how I feel free. Yet somehow, when we look at Jesus’ life, it makes perfect sense in light of His Kingdom.

As Christmas comes closer and we prepare for this holiday season, I can’t help but think about how ill prepared we all usually feel. Usually to feel prepared we have to have everything absolutely PERFECT. Now, we are just preparing for our family dinners, business parties, and school. Imagine if we were preparing for a King. A palace filled with servants! Food GALORE! Gold! Finest wine! And a manger for him to be born in!

Whoa whoa whoa. A manager? A stable? A place for animals to…. sleep in? Oh come on Mary and Joseph! God told you that you were going to have His SON. Weren’t you prepared? At all? God, you could have made it a little less awkward, at least wait until they were married. Is this how we prepare for a King?

Let’s look at the disciples. Jesus yells at some men in a boat, “Hey. I’ll help you be fishers of people! Follow me.” That’s weird. These are the men who will carry Your words to the entire world. Couldn’t You find some guys a little more qualified? A little more prepared?

Looking back at these two events in the Bible, it would look as if no one was prepared for what was to happen. I looked up “prepared” in the dictionary (that’s nerdy. I know) and one of the definitions for prepared is to “be willing to do something.” That definition really shifts my perspective on these two Bible stories. Mary and Joseph were willing and the disciples were willing. It’s not that their lives were perfect, just that they wanted to follow God. Be willing. That’s my conclusion.

Also… that oxymoron thing. I think God likes to take what looks as if it were one way and change it to a whole different way of seeing it. He is full of surprises. Be willing. Be surprised. Celebrate.