"...[B]ehind all our fun and games at Christmastime, we should not try to escape a sense of awe, almost a sense of fright, at what God has done. We must never allow anything to blind us to the true significance of what happened at Bethlehem....Nothing can alter the fact that we live on a visited planet." -J.B. Phillips
I am a little kid when it comes to snow. It was in the forecast yesterday and never showed up and I was vastly disappointed. My reasons have changed over the years; I'm definitely less interested in being out in it but I still love to see it falling and love it to come when I'm prepared to stay home. But when it changes my plans...when I have to go out, well, then, it does give me pause.
To hear and read various thoughts on snow is not all that different than people's emotions about Advent (the second one, but also the first). There is excitement and longing and also, the other side: dread, fear, even terror.
Snow changes life for a short time. It changes the landscape, our priorities, and the risk.
Advent should change our perspective in the same way. It should reshape priorities, change the path we are on, and make us aware of the stakes.
This is a season for turning our attention to what it means to live on "a visited planet." He came once; He will return. Let every heart prepare Him room.
1 comment:
In watchful expectation I look for Christ. Not only for His triumphant return to complete the work of His New Creation; but also for His continual work in our lives and the lives of those around us. He is patiently at work in His world and invites us to open our eyes and participate in the joy of His New Creation in the present.
Amen!
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