Sunday, December 16, 2018

The Third Sunday of Advent


This year I have been thinking a lot about Light in the darkness. The church I attended in Virginia is having people write Advent meditations based on finding God's light in the darkness that pervades our lives. Those stories have been wonderful and inspiring. And it has occurred to me that our darkness is not always tragedy or trauma. 

Sometimes it is just being overwhelmed by something as simple as a dinner party or Christmas event or realizing your whole family is coming for the holidays. "What have I gotten myself into??"

We can feel the darkness closing in. And then we get up, put one foot in front of the other, do one task at a time and slowly the stress is relieved, the burden lightened, The List shortened. So ordinary that we don't even see God's hand in the process. 

Remember though when many Biblical folks met Jesus: going about their ordinary lives. The woman getting water from the well; Martha cooking and busy in the kitchen; Peter fishing; Zaccheaus collecting taxes. All these folks were going about their daily lives and Jesus was there to bring light and life to those mundane chores, raising spirits and pointing the way to Hope. That is the way God moves in our lives, always with Light and Love and Hope even if we don't recognize it. May we be blessed with the ability to recognize the Light of the Spirit even in our most ordinary darkness. 

2 comments:

MikeC said...

“So ordinary that we don't even see God's hand in the process.” So very true! Thank you for articulating that.

Tahoe Mom said...

It's true, Mike. Although sometimes we do look back and say, Oh, God was with me then.