Third Week of Advent's Got Me Rattled
Christmas is coming and I can't help it - can't help getting excited, even getting distracted. I need help getting down to my work this morning. Otherwise I feel like I'm just not going to get anything done.
Sure, I know that Advent's a penitential season. And I'm really making every effort at prayer and sacrifice. I'm looking at my life and my relationship with God. Those short-comings stand out like a sore thumb. Sorrow fills my heart each time I think of the plain fact that if I really loved God - if I lived each day as if I really loved God - things would be so different. My actions - sadly - speak louder than all those words that tell God about how much I love Him.
It's not like I don't get the whole penance part of Advent. It's just that every time I say my special aspiration - "Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in my heart" - I get excited. And that's where I am now: excited and distracted.
So now I pick up my Bible to read a Psalm. It's early in the morning, before work. I'm doing my Scripture reading, like I try to do every morning. I'm at Psalm 32:
Yes. I'll get my guitar out and start singing. That's just how I feel. Christmas is coming. O joy! The heck with work today. I can't concentrate on that project. It's too darned detailed and boring.
Hey, hold on. Your wife's asleep. So are the kids. What are you crazy? Relax. Keep reading.
Ah, a light to pierce the darkness of my giddy brain. What was I thinking? God works. And his work is done in faithfulness. Get it? It's no different for me.
Okay, calming down now; getting sober after that unexpected shot of Advent excitement. God works; I work. Get ready for work. Get ready to put your best effort into that project, boring or not. Prepare yourself to put your mind into all that detail and find the answers you need for that client. Don't get carried away and neglect your duties.
God works. Now I work.
But what about all that excitement? It's still there. It's just that now it's not pulling me away from my duties. It's not a distraction anymore. It's more of a burst of energy that I can channel into that work that's sitting there on my laptop ready to go.
Thank God I've developed this habit of reading Scripture in the morning before work. Sure, sometimes I just kind of slog through it and I wonder if I'm "getting anything" out of it. Then something like this morning happens and I get it why reading Scripture each day is so important. For one thing, it's how you learn.
Anyway, the light's slowly brightening the night sky. It's cloudy, so morning will just slowly creep up on us. Hey, the ground's covered with a thin layer of snow - our first snowfall! It's really cold, but it's kind of pretty out there. Wait! Stop daydreaming, you better start getting ready earlier. The roads will be a bit slick; plus, you'll have to scrape the car windows. They're covered with snow.
Thank you God for this lesson this morning. Thank you for the beauty of the snow, as well as the slap in the face from Psalm 32. Now I'll get ready for that cold, icy morning you've got out there before I get down to my work for the day.
But I'm still excited, still praying with that eager anticipation:
Sure, I know that Advent's a penitential season. And I'm really making every effort at prayer and sacrifice. I'm looking at my life and my relationship with God. Those short-comings stand out like a sore thumb. Sorrow fills my heart each time I think of the plain fact that if I really loved God - if I lived each day as if I really loved God - things would be so different. My actions - sadly - speak louder than all those words that tell God about how much I love Him.
It's not like I don't get the whole penance part of Advent. It's just that every time I say my special aspiration - "Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in my heart" - I get excited. And that's where I am now: excited and distracted.
So now I pick up my Bible to read a Psalm. It's early in the morning, before work. I'm doing my Scripture reading, like I try to do every morning. I'm at Psalm 32:
Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just: praise becometh the upright
Give praise to the Lord on the harp,
Sing to Him with the psaltery, the instrument of ten strings
Sing to him a new canticle, sing well unto him with a loud noise.
Yes. I'll get my guitar out and start singing. That's just how I feel. Christmas is coming. O joy! The heck with work today. I can't concentrate on that project. It's too darned detailed and boring.
Hey, hold on. Your wife's asleep. So are the kids. What are you crazy? Relax. Keep reading.
For the word of the Lord is right, and all his work is done with faithfulness.
Ah, a light to pierce the darkness of my giddy brain. What was I thinking? God works. And his work is done in faithfulness. Get it? It's no different for me.
Okay, calming down now; getting sober after that unexpected shot of Advent excitement. God works; I work. Get ready for work. Get ready to put your best effort into that project, boring or not. Prepare yourself to put your mind into all that detail and find the answers you need for that client. Don't get carried away and neglect your duties.
God works. Now I work.
But what about all that excitement? It's still there. It's just that now it's not pulling me away from my duties. It's not a distraction anymore. It's more of a burst of energy that I can channel into that work that's sitting there on my laptop ready to go.
Thank God I've developed this habit of reading Scripture in the morning before work. Sure, sometimes I just kind of slog through it and I wonder if I'm "getting anything" out of it. Then something like this morning happens and I get it why reading Scripture each day is so important. For one thing, it's how you learn.
Anyway, the light's slowly brightening the night sky. It's cloudy, so morning will just slowly creep up on us. Hey, the ground's covered with a thin layer of snow - our first snowfall! It's really cold, but it's kind of pretty out there. Wait! Stop daydreaming, you better start getting ready earlier. The roads will be a bit slick; plus, you'll have to scrape the car windows. They're covered with snow.
Thank you God for this lesson this morning. Thank you for the beauty of the snow, as well as the slap in the face from Psalm 32. Now I'll get ready for that cold, icy morning you've got out there before I get down to my work for the day.
But I'm still excited, still praying with that eager anticipation:
"Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in my heart!"
Comments