The Discovery in Advent

Advent is upon us, a time to pause, to watch, to wait.  All of us are in modes of waiting for something to unfold, something to change or settle or arrive that we’ve expected or hoped for.  Do not lose hope, my friend.  Let’s stir the coals that have been close to going cold.

I want to return for a moment, on this first morning of Advent, to Eden.  It is so easy to envision it as a naïve place where we just had our heads in the sand of reality.  But I don’t think Eden was at all like that.  It was a lush and vibrant place.  It had a mystery to be discovered, but one that was easily missed.  It was a place where mankind and womankind were at their fullest, but in the first elements of what could be explored and discovered and what was there to be found was immense.  They were yearning for more, but the snag for them was a tug for independence and power over something, not the deeper and more vulnerable and better place that had them needing one another and wildly working together in all the plans that could unfold. 

The serpent’s tongue was indeed a spear that nailed them to a dimmer reality of the knowledge they might attain, and it took the nails to another tree to reveal a great truth a couple of thousand years later.  And still we suffer the illusions that first draped us in the garden, the clothes we so badly need to shed, the masks that would be far better to remove. 

We have an opportunity to discover something precious this season.  We can quiet ourselves and listen to the deeper beat in our hearts, the quieter rhythm of longing that runs beneath all the louder things that usually catch our attention and demand our time. 

Take some moments to gift yourself with some quiet this season and look closely for what might be stirring in you.  You are alive, so the coals are there somewhere; it’s inevitable.  His breath in you, each moment is part of the fanning of any tiny ember to flame you into the being you are meant to be.  Most of us miss it, building our own miniscule kingdoms in a poor tradeoff of the glorious adventure He’s planned.  See if you can discover a tiny thread of it this season and pull.  It will be much stronger a cord than it appears. 

Make this Advent a season of looking for what has been veiled for far too long or hidden in the many layers of what you’d thought was vital.  Those trappings may have actually been the walls between you and your real purpose.  It is still there to be discovered, no matter the circumstances and supposed limitations.  Begin by being truly present in the moment before you.  

The Great Shopping Day

He is such a disposable God.  We move Him aside, set Him on shelves, distance Him to a once a week nod, cast Him to the trash as rubbish, or line Him up on a rack with every other god option.  We have no idea what we are dealing with.  He saves the prize, the intimacy of His heart for those who are curious and hungry and desperate.  Too often that is a small audience that looks foolish to others.  But for those who have tasted, truly tasted, the appetite increases, the fascination flames, the passion for Him blazes even through the dark nights of the soul and the dry deserts of the struggle.  

This I know:  He is with you.  He is for you.  He is woven into the fiber of the earth, the vastness of the stars, the purpose of the universe.  He set it into being and is attentive to every tiny thing that tugs your heart. 

He IS peace.  He IS a strong tower.  He IS the one who can guide you through the challenges if you will give Him room and time to do it His way. 

Fear will trip us up every time.  Spend whatever time you need in His presence, in His word, in conversation with Him to remember His power, to refresh yourself with His story, to get your heart back in touch with the One who is fighting for you.

With Thanks

If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.  I wait for the LORD, my sould waits, and in his word I put my hope.  My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.  Psalm 130:3-6 

For my Savior I am most thankful.  All life, blessing, healing, freedom, and provision comes from His goodness and love, from His massive heart. 

The Power of Trust

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.  As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore.  The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil.  Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart.  But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers.  Peace be upon Israel.  (Psalm 125)

The Sun Comes Up, It's a New Day Dawning

Let’s not forget that today, as we start our day, and as we move through it, are in the company of the One who created the universe, holds all things together, parted the Red Sea, provided amply for the widow, shared with us the order of His kingdom,  sent His Son to do for us what we could not do for ourselves, raised a thought-to-be destroyed Jesus to His rightful place, smiled as He thought of each of us, then made us, placing us in space and time, breathed life into us, loves us even while we were yet sinners, forgives our sins, restores our lives, invites us to draw close, and allows us to participate in His work.

Today, all day long, I am in the company of Him who loves and desires His love to permeate the universe through us.  As I look, listen, learn to hear His beautiful song, feel the pulse of His good and strong heart, will increasingly know what it means to love in a broken and hurt-filled world.  Only as I become familiar with His Spirit can I know what love looks like in the moment.  We are here to set prisoners free, to heal the sick, to speak truth, to encourage, to bear up one another, to let others bear us up in our weakness. 

Don’t miss it.  This is life, amazing grace, boundless love, and a limited amount of time to trust Him with our lives and our “yes” until this season will close and we will see clearly.  I don’t want anyone to be shocked at the goodness they had been offered.

Wise Exchanges

This thing about time and satisfaction…what happened at the fall where we have lost our perspective of a long-term goal and now continually wrestle with satisfaction for the moment we are in?  How many times have we traded in better things for having a desire met in the now, even when we knew it wasn’t really going to be good for the long run?

Whether you battle the desire for more possessions, chocolate, food, sex, alcohol, drugs, or some other emotional charge, it seems that life for most of us is a battle for choosing what will actually be for our good.  Few of us suffer from a desire of too much God, though it is rather astonishing what we have access to if we did.  We chase such silly poor substitutes for what would actually bring us life and peace and adventure and security and blessing. 

Odd, when what we mostly want is life and peace and adventure and security and blessing.  

Revelation

What will we say is most important to us in the moments of the next 24 hours?