Rachel Kang: Making Space for the Miracle
photo by Shin Kang
Advent is a time of waiting. A time of wondering. A pregnant pause before the wild, wonderful whirl of Christmas. Or at least, that is how it was intended.
In the reflection below, Rachel Kang shares her story of waiting, of making space for the miracle to come.
As my pregnancy draws close to its conclusion, I’ve been looking a lot into the story of Elizabeth and Mary, studying Luke like a crazy college student and reading through every trivial detail until it pops off the page like principles and main points.
We know a lot about Mary. Know a lot about her heart and how she believed the angel, taking God for his word and his promise at the possibility of making impossibilities come to pass.
But Elizabeth. She was something special, too.
She and her husband, Zechariah, were counted as blameless before God. Not sinless, not perfect, not never messing up or getting it wrong. But blameless, as in doing whatever was required to take care of the wrong that they’d done, coming clean before God and before people in order to live unhindered, unencumbered by sin and its powerful grip.
She’d been chosen, destined—even, to carry John, the forerunner of Jesus, purposed to prepare the hearts of men, soften and open and turn the hearts of men. Like a farmer, tilling the ground before seeds can be planted.
Elizabeth was barren, old in age, and well beyond the possibility of carrying and bearing a child.
Yet, just like Mary—miraculous conception.
The thing that I’m liking about Elizabeth, that I never knew before, is that she decided to hide away for the first five months of her pregnancy.
The Bible doesn’t say why. It just says that she did.
Historical studies and cultural conclusions can take a stab at why she might have chosen to do this: fear of miscarriage in her old age, fear of what other women might say—their snarky comments (anyone who has been pregnant knows about these snarky comments)—people’s confusion and concern and unending questions, jealousy, naysayers, opting to remain secluded and silent because of her husband being stricken with silence.
I don’t know. But what I do know is that as I’ve chosen to pause and step away from work and “doing” this last month while we wait for Milo, there is nothing like the gift of silence, and stillness, and—yes, even seclusion.
We are closing the blinds, locking the door, limiting the interactions with the people we know and love. Why?
photo by Shin Kang
Because we are making space in the heart for the miracle that is soon to come. Because sometimes we need to pull away from people in order to process and appreciate that which we are going through—especially when it’s something crazy, something spectacular, something huge, something miraculous.
Maybe Elizabeth was an introvert, just like I am. Maybe all that time alone was the only way she could ever process how dramatically and drastically her life was about the change.
We often rush and run to others, fan-faring our great news, showing to the world our excitement and celebration. Sometimes, I wonder just how much more treasured and sacred these things—new babies, new marriages, new jobs, healings, new growths, new anythings—could be if we would just keep the time and space to savor them. Consider them, hold them in our hearts, even if it does mean being alone and celebrating without the audience of the world watching and liking and commenting on how great and awesome we and our lives are.
Maybe it’s just giving pause enough in our hearts to let our souls inhale and exhale just how great God is.
So, for now, I’m holding tight, like Elizabeth, to the gifts of silence and seclusion, preparing my soul for the miracle to come.
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Rachel Kang was born and raised just outside of New York City. A mixed woman of African American, Native American, Dutch, and Irish descent, she writes prose, poems, and other pieces that whisper into the thin tension held between faith and life. Rachel is a graduate of Nyack College in New York where she obtained a degree in English with Creative Writing, and she is the creator of Indelible Ink Writers. You can connect with her at rachelmariekang.com and follow her on Twitter & Instagram @rachelmariekang.
