Anna the Prophetess
Invariably as the Christmas season draws to a
close, well meaning friends will inquire, “Did you get all you wanted?” or “Was
time with your family everything you hoped it would be?”
There are any number of answers to these
questions. Some years we do, some we don’t,
and some fall exceedingly short of any semblance of “happy” holidays.
Truth is, what we expect from these sentimentally charged days, changes from
year to year.
Anna is a church figure fondly esteemed. Her
personal biography impressive; from the tribe of Asher, daughter of Phanuel, a
prophetess. Her legacy impeccable; never leaving the temple,
she worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. And many a beautiful baby
girl has been named in her honor.
What isn’t talked about as much is, she had a
husband she shared a home with for seven years. Then, for some sixty four
years, she lived as a widow...no husband, no home. I wonder how long it took
her to turn the life she thought she would have, and the life she actually had,
into grateful devotion? I wonder, if asked if she got all she wanted, what she
would’ve said in year 3 at the temple, or year 12, or year 49?
It’s emotionally easier on us to sum up a life
well lived than to chronicle the years one by one. But 64 years is 64 years,
regardless of the era in which one lives. Days are long, challenges arise,
expectations shatter, friendships wane. And Anna was no less a victor and a
failure than we.
Yet her life is celebrated because of the faithfulness
it displayed. The accumulation of all the lonely days and sleepless nights didn’t
distract her from her worship, but became a part of it. As a result, she was
present when Mary and Joseph brought the baby to the temple; she was there to
touch the tender cheek of the one she’d prayed and fasted decades for. In
living every day, come what may, she didn’t miss the moment. She saw the Lord,
her promised king, in infant form.
Isn’t that what we really want? To see Jesus face to face? To know him so
well, we’d recognize him anywhere? Then take heart, dear soul, your years
count; each empty, tragic, wonderful one of them.
Love the Lord, all you his
saints. The Lord preserves the faithful... Psalm 31:23
- Elizabeth D. 