Day 3 Alertness
If Advent is a season of waiting, then shouldn't we always be alert to that for which we wait?
The silly song on the radio reminds me that I, too, need to focus on the one right thing. Alvin, the chipmunk, has the same trouble that so many of us have each Advent. The director is preparing his group to sing their Christmas song. Simon is ready. Theodore is ready. But then we hear, "Alvin....Alvin.....ALVIN!" Alvin is looking off, busy with other things, maybe good things, maybe not. Time is spent getting him back on track to sing his Christmas song. (The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late;1958)
How much time do
you spend getting yourself "back on track" ?
Today I read:
"Be Alert, be
alert, so that you will be able to recognize your Lord in your husband, your
wife, your parents, your children, your friends, your teachers, but also in
all that you read in the daily papers. The Lord is coming, always coming. Be
alert to his coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will
recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent: life is recognizing
the coming of the Lord."(Henri J.M. Nouwen, Gracias! A Latin American
Journal)
We hear ourselves respond, "But I don't see the Lord in that person and I look and look, but can never find the Lord in the news."
We keep looking for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And guess what? We find the Lord
either in rejoicing because of the presence of those things or the lamenting
the great need of them. We rejoice with finding the Lord or we search and wait
for Him to be found. Either way, we recognize him and our great need for him.
Even the Chipmunks
in Christmas Don't Be Late recognize their need for Christmas when they
sing:
"We've been
good, but we can't last.
Hurry Christmas,
hurry fast!"
Try as we might, we
just can't be good in our own might. We can't last. We need the coming of
Christmas to bring us the perfect Christmas gift - grace, wrapped in swaddling
clothes.
Pay attention! We
have a song to sing!
"Keep awake -
for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or
at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at down, or else me may find you asleep when he
comes suddenly."(Mark 13:35-36)
Baby of Grace who
comes to us,
give me ears to hear and eyes to see without
distraction.
I want to be alert in order to recognize you every moment.
1 comment:
Such good advice. Beautifully written. Lord open my eyes that I may see, open my ears that I may hear and see every moment of this Advent season and be ready to receive the gift of love on Christmas.
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