When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. Luke 1:41
My earliest memory of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is from grade school. I remember both Tiny Tim and Ebenezer Scrooge both used a cane. Tiny Tim’s was more like a crutch, which he leaned on to keep him from falling over, for his medical condition was so severe that he could not stand without assistance. Tiny Tim’s father, Bob Cratchit, did not make enough money (as a clerk for Ebenezer Scrooge) for his son to receive the proper medical treatment he so desperately needed. Ebenezer Scrooge’s cane was a walking stick, as he was an elderly man, but he was not physically sick like Tiny Tim. Tiny Tim leaned on his cane for life. Ebenezer Scrooge leaned on his cane for luxury.
When we lean, we use muscles that prevent us from falling over. I’m not sure if you’ve ever tracked how many times you lean during the day, but I imagine it would be a pretty big number. Depending on our vocation, some of us may lean more than others.
For the past few weeks, we have been leaning into these days of Advent, preparing our hearts for what comes next. Engaging with John in the wilderness, as folks leaned in to hear him speak, I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming…(Luke 3:16) Imagining Paul leaning against the prison wall as he wrote words that seemed so opposite of what he was experiencing, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice (Philippians 4:4).
Then Mary went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth (Luke 1:40). I believe that in that greeting, both women leaned in and shared love with each other, and in that moment when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb (1:41).
Leaning turned to leaping.
So let’s keep leaning in the remaining days this week, for as we keep leaning to Bethlehem, there will be yet another opportunity to lean. To lean into the nearest nativity scene, to lean over the shoulders of Mary and Joseph, as they lean to the Christ-child, lying in the manger. Then, as we lean, may our hearts experience the same thing Elizabeth did – joy.
Lean with hope, my friends, and be prepared to surrender yourself to the sounds we will hear on Christmas Eve, when we sing, Joy to the world, the Lord has come.
Blessings, 
David