Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Making the journey (Watching for Jesus 3)

Scripture for reflection: Matthew 2:1-12

If, as Herod, we fill our lives with things, 
and again with things, 
if we consider ourselves so unimportant 
that we must fill every moment of our lives with action, 
when will we have the time to make the long slow journey across the desert 
as did the Magi? 
Or sit and watch the stars as did the Shepherds? 
Or brood over the coming of the child as did Mary? 
For each of us, there is a desert to travel, 
a star to discover, 
and a being within ourselves to bring to life. 

 ~ Author unknown

* * *

“Waiting doesn’t resonate well in our culture. Our spending habits serve as one good example. Because we need it now, we rack up outlandish debts we have no plan for repaying.

The Christian life is--and always has been--filled with waiting. Whether it was the Old Testament anticipation of the promised Messiah or the New Testament eager expectation for Jesus Christ’s return, believers are often focused on what is to come.

It seems that God teaches us the most poignant lessons when we pay attention to the ways in which his Kingdom is upside down from ours. Perhaps God wants us to feel strongly dissatisfied with the imperfections of our current state and long for what is to come. Could it be that in those moments of yearning we grow to better understand the ways of our Lord?”

             (from The Mosaic Bible, a devotional resource that follows the church year)

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