[Anna] never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. Luke 2:37
Aling Maita’s wrinkled face beams with loving light whenever I visit her on the busy street corner where she sells fried bananas (Aling is a title of respect for older women in the Philippines). She always asks me how I am, giving her usual reminder: “Always pray! Always trust God!” Now eighty years old, she spends her days reading her pocket Bible as she sells her wares in the scorching Manila heat. The sight of her bowed, silver-haired head and her rough hands tenderly holding the tattered pages remind me of what devotion to Jesus means.
Aling Maita also reminds me of the prophetess Anna, an elderly widow who recognized Jesus as the Messiah when His parents brought Him to the temple. Anna’s devotion to God characterized her life. “She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer” (Luke 2:37). The patriarchal traditions of ancient Jewish society made widows vulnerable to neglect and exploitation, but Anna didn’t allow this marginalization to define her. Instead, she chose to let devotion to God define her and her days. When she turned eighty-four, God rewarded Anna’s faith by letting her see the Messiah.
Unlike Anna, who had to wait to see Jesus, we can readily enjoy His presence. Like Aling Maita, may we live our days with our hearts bowed and our hands lifted in praise to Jesus, the only One who deserves our devotion. Karen Huang
What does the word devotion mean to you? Who or what is the object of your devotion?
Dear God, let each day of my life and everything I do be defined by devotion to You.
Luke 2:36–38
36 Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.
