http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/113014.cfm
Happy New Year! Time flies, doesn't it?
We begin a new year - Waiting! Waiting for Jesus' Birth! Waiting for Jesus' 2nd Coming!
Yet, most of us are not sitting patiently waiting, but buzzing around shopping, decorating, cooking, parties, kids activities, church celebrations....not much peace or time for reflection -
But we must take this important time to prepare our hearts to make room for Jesus! Not just for Christmas - but for everyday! For our lives!
Our lives are a pilgrimage - we journey towards heaven...
I don't know about you...but I miss out on the beautiful scenery around me - when I am rushing from point A to B. I miss out on enjoying and savoring my life - instead of just "living" life! When I am in a hurry, I miss out on smelling the flowers and the coffee! I miss out on taking time to enjoy the people in my life and my God! I miss opportunities to be a better me.
Advent gives us this time - if we take advantage of it!
We can make that decision if it is important to us - not just because of "me", but because it is also good for those around me!
The next four weeks give us time to slow down, to take notice of what is really important in our lives.
The first reading begins with a great statement...
You, LORD, are our father,
our redeemer you are named forever.
Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways,
and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?
I know God gives us free will. I know He has great plans for us - further in the reading it tells us so.
No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you
doing such deeds for those who wait for him.
Yet we sin! We turn away from God. We find "things" more important than God....but today,the beginning of Advent we can begin ANEW!
Yet, O LORD, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.
We can say to God - shape me the way You want me! I surrender to your hand!
We beg Him to do that very thing in the responsorial psalm
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
Paul is encouraging and hopeful when He prays for us:
I give thanks to my God always on your account
for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
that in him you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful,
and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
He reminds us that we are enriched with all discourse and all knowledge - We know what is the TRUTH! We just need to keep firm to the end! IRREPROACHABLE!
God is faithful - and He has called us to fellowship with his Son, Jesus! This is GOOD NEWS! This is really GREAT NEWS! I must remain the clay in God's Hands - so that He can continue to guide me and shape me into the person He designed from the beginning of time!!!
And Jesus tells us to be WATCHFUL! ALERT! WE don't know when Christ is coming back....don't be caught with your eyes on the World - when nothing is more important than our eyes on GOD!!!
Even if we just spend the first minutes of every day - before we get out of bed - giving our day to God, asking Him to help us keep our eyes on Him! Then spend this Advent giving God our first priority - as if today was our last day on earth!
Have a blessed and peaceful Advent!
Nancy
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