Saturday, December 8

Advent

Advent  (definition)
1.a coming into place, view, or being; arrival: the advent of the holiday season.
2.the coming of Christ into the world.

Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. - Wikipedia

When I refuse to hide my honest questions, the things I’m really thinking, the places where I am most afraid and really need His help…He meets me there. And it not only doesn’t scare Him off like it does some people, it seems to please Him. That I am willing to go deep with Him. To wrestle. To endure and embrace uncertainty, recognizing it is such a powerful door He walks through. The longer I walk with Him, the more this is how I have to relate to Him.
Deanna Davis


Deanna Davis' last few (ok...I really mean ALL of her) posts have been a most profound experience for me. She is struggling through something very different than my struggle, but as she thinks and wrestles out loud, I think to myself, "Is the woman watching me? does she have ESP? How could she possibly write something that is exactly what I am thinking and experiencing?

Today she tackles the issue of "Ew. Messy blog. Messy life. Messy relationship with Jesus" and the inability sometimes for people to understand a Jesus who makes and meets us in a messy life.

Really, what I'm telling you is to read her blog. And espeically this post.

But I also thought this: She makes this point, "Not hiding the mess invites Jesus to speak into the mess. And sometimes heal it so beautifully, so personally…it defies description."

And I thought to myself, "Jesus I am waiting. Waiting for you to heal this mess, this disaster area that is my spiritual life. Come, Lord Jesus. Come Quickly. Heal me and clean it up."

And isn't that the heart of the  advent? Not only calling out to the Lord to come to us physically, but also spiritually and emotionally.

Especially when your spiritual life feels chaotic and questioning and weak.

Come, especially then, Lord Jesus. 

4 comments:

Molly said...

These are beautifully-written words, as are those at Deanna Davis' blog. Thanks for being you, and thanks for sharing the link.

Laura Ward said...

LOVE this! Deanna & I totally talked about all of this today. I so wish you'd been there! We'll have to figure out a way to get all 3 of us together sometime soon. :)

Back to the waiting theme - a friend shared this Spurgeon quote at our small group in a meditation on Advent. It seems fitting:

"If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for Him. He is worth waiting for. The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes. The Lord’s people have always been a waiting people."

I love that last line: "The Lord's people have always been a waiting people." Isn't that so true? In so many dimensions of self & time, we wait. But we wait with hope, because we know that He will come. We won't be waiting forever.

Unknown said...

Thanks Molly - Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Went reading through my archives, and clicked on a link and found....This!

http://www.brittlecrazyglass.com/2005/09/remains-of-styrofoam-filled-squeezie.html

Remember the days?? Oh, how far we've traveled since then!

Unknown said...

Laura,
I love this:

"The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes."

one of my favorite and closest friends in St. Louis - a play therapist - and I used to run regularly together. She mentioned one day that God gives us bodies for a reason - that they are to be used and exercised. That conversation struck me when I read the above quote that Faith is also supposed to be exercised and used.

And as your muscles ache when you exercise after a long time of relaxing, well, so might faith a little bit.

With octaves of a mystic depth and height