Luke 1:41-42 “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb.  And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

What I wouldn't give to sit at the kitchen table in Elizabeth’s home and have a cup of coffee with these ladies.  Can you imagine the stories they could tell?  Elizabeth was beyond child bearing age when an angel came and told her and her husband that they were going to have a baby.  Mary who was still a virgin was visited by the very same angel!  He tells her that she will bear a son and he will be the Son of God.  If you are a woman you know that once they received their angelic visit they never stopped thinking and wondering and questioning how this could and would be.  When Mary comes to visit Elizabeth, John leaps in Elizabeth’s womb!  It seems that he already knows to proclaim this child.  Having a baby is a time filled with anticipation.  Sometimes it seems it has been forever since the baby started growing inside the womb and sometimes, as the birth grows closer, the parents are wondering if they are ready for this to happen.  I can only imagine the wonder and anticipation Elizabeth and Mary had compared to those of us with babies announced by doctors rather than angels of the Lord.  Now we all wait in anticipation.  We wait for the angels to sing.  We wait for a cry in the wilderness.  We wait for the Lord.

Lord,

Waiting is hard for us, just look at my kids.  They can barely contain themselves.  You call us to wait and so we try.  Thank you for your words that tell us the story.  We do not wait without knowing what; we only wait not knowing when.  O come, O come Emmanuel.  Amen.