I can't help but toss a few thoughts in here this morning.....
I have been so OUT OF IT per our culture this year...
Might be my age or stage in life... but I am so TURNED OFF by the obligatory gifting.... and the crass consumerism
It's even ruined Santa a bit for me... though I still love the jolly old elf as a do-gooder... and as an opportunity to both BE and teach my children to BE a "Santa" in the world... but he is a child's story
But what gets me the most is the constant focus on the Christ Child. I mean, I love babies.... and remembering baby Jesus is fantastic!
But like Santa, that focus is for the little ones.
We big ones - who are Christian - are TRULY celebrating the second coming of Christ. So the focus is (or should be) on preparing ourselves to enter the kingdom.
Is THAT any part of the flurry of activity you are involved in this year? Or are you tied up in paper and bows and "what to buy for whom" and "when is the right time to thaw the turkey?" Not to mention all the 70% offs and traffic snarls...
Do you remember that it is NOT Santa who is watching.... but God? Are you ready to meet Jesus if you are called home today?
I'd like to pose a simple question.
Where is YOUR focus?
Showing posts with label Advent reflection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Advent reflection. Show all posts
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Just a Mom :-)
The sense of the joy - just around the corner - is flooding me right now! It's a week away.... Christmas! After you get through the oppressive To Do List..... can you wrap your head around what it would be like if you KNEW that Jesus was going to arrive in a week? I can't fathom what I would do :-)
I think about Jesus' mother Mary today. I LOVE to think about Mary - partly because I am Catholic and that is what we do. But when I think that the mother of Jesus was "just a mom"..... like me, it brings me to a sacred realization about my role. (Have you ever noticed that SACRED can easily get twisted around to SCARED? That sounds like another topic :-)
I describe myself as "just a mom"..... and that sounds like a put-down. But I don't mean it that way. It's what I want.... it's how I operate.... it's what I chose (and still choose) to do with my life.
But "just a mom" seems ordinary, doesn't it? I mean, there are millions of us. Imagine, millions of people nurturing others... content NOT to be in the limelight but to bolster and support. We cook, we clean, we patch up boo-boos, we make you laugh. We are the ones who are in the background cheering on the ones who are getting the attention.
Mary elevates that description even more! I mean... there is nothing in history that tells us of any yearnings that she might have had.... or her special skills.... like baking the best bread in Nazareth... or was she well-educated for a poor girl.... or was she ambitious before all this started? What did she do with her free time? She had to be special. God chose her. What we know of Mary is that she was chosen by God to be Jesus' "just a mom". But we also know that however special the person is, "just a mom" does not get much notice in history books :-) Even in sacred Scripture, what we read is not everything that happened. It is what we need to live our lives well. So sometimes we need to fill in the holes with our sacred every day experiences.
All the joys and fears I have experienced with my own family (and often friends), remind me about what Mary must have faced. When my toddler granddaughter recently did a ski-type slide down my indoor stairs and I heard her scream, my heart stopped and I felt that horrible adrenalin flow and then the intense joy when I realized that she was fine. It was horribly frightening and I felt terrible that I didn't protect her.
But these things do happen to all of us... right before our eyes! I cannot even imagine how I would feel - if I were trying to raise God's son! Oh my..... it increases my admiration for her - and brings my every day experience to a higher plane.
Mary is the one who watched over the child Jesus and helped him grow to be a man.
Mary is the one with the heart-stopping experience of watching him learn to walk and run and hit his thumb with Joseph's hammer.
Mary is the one who agreed to be the person standing in the background assisting Jesus in his human journey to adulthood. She even shows me how to let go! (The hole in the story that I must fill in now is what happens next. Mary had a long productive life after her child grew up. She was active in Jesus' ministry so she must have had skills that she continued to use and develop!)
Mary teaches me that what I do every day.... every time I serve - food, advice, cleaning, driving, whatever... is important. She teaches me how to watch over but not smother.... I can imagine how her heart broke when she ushered in his ministry at the Cana wedding. Did she know then that, as His ultimate prophet and disciple, she helped him begin the fulfillment of his personal destiny?
"Just a mom" She raised her child so he could leave her and live his own life. By her example, she brings "holy" into my everyday "mom-ness".
She said YES to God and became "just a mom."
Like me...... and like you.
I think about Jesus' mother Mary today. I LOVE to think about Mary - partly because I am Catholic and that is what we do. But when I think that the mother of Jesus was "just a mom"..... like me, it brings me to a sacred realization about my role. (Have you ever noticed that SACRED can easily get twisted around to SCARED? That sounds like another topic :-)
I describe myself as "just a mom"..... and that sounds like a put-down. But I don't mean it that way. It's what I want.... it's how I operate.... it's what I chose (and still choose) to do with my life.
But "just a mom" seems ordinary, doesn't it? I mean, there are millions of us. Imagine, millions of people nurturing others... content NOT to be in the limelight but to bolster and support. We cook, we clean, we patch up boo-boos, we make you laugh. We are the ones who are in the background cheering on the ones who are getting the attention.
Mary elevates that description even more! I mean... there is nothing in history that tells us of any yearnings that she might have had.... or her special skills.... like baking the best bread in Nazareth... or was she well-educated for a poor girl.... or was she ambitious before all this started? What did she do with her free time? She had to be special. God chose her. What we know of Mary is that she was chosen by God to be Jesus' "just a mom". But we also know that however special the person is, "just a mom" does not get much notice in history books :-) Even in sacred Scripture, what we read is not everything that happened. It is what we need to live our lives well. So sometimes we need to fill in the holes with our sacred every day experiences.
All the joys and fears I have experienced with my own family (and often friends), remind me about what Mary must have faced. When my toddler granddaughter recently did a ski-type slide down my indoor stairs and I heard her scream, my heart stopped and I felt that horrible adrenalin flow and then the intense joy when I realized that she was fine. It was horribly frightening and I felt terrible that I didn't protect her.
But these things do happen to all of us... right before our eyes! I cannot even imagine how I would feel - if I were trying to raise God's son! Oh my..... it increases my admiration for her - and brings my every day experience to a higher plane.
Mary is the one who watched over the child Jesus and helped him grow to be a man.
Mary is the one with the heart-stopping experience of watching him learn to walk and run and hit his thumb with Joseph's hammer.
Mary is the one who agreed to be the person standing in the background assisting Jesus in his human journey to adulthood. She even shows me how to let go! (The hole in the story that I must fill in now is what happens next. Mary had a long productive life after her child grew up. She was active in Jesus' ministry so she must have had skills that she continued to use and develop!)
Mary teaches me that what I do every day.... every time I serve - food, advice, cleaning, driving, whatever... is important. She teaches me how to watch over but not smother.... I can imagine how her heart broke when she ushered in his ministry at the Cana wedding. Did she know then that, as His ultimate prophet and disciple, she helped him begin the fulfillment of his personal destiny?
"Just a mom" She raised her child so he could leave her and live his own life. By her example, she brings "holy" into my everyday "mom-ness".
She said YES to God and became "just a mom."
Like me...... and like you.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Prepare Ye the Way!
Are you ready for Christmas? The day we celebrate the birth of the Savior?
Do you have mile-long lists of gifts to buy, cards to send, decorating to do, things to bake? Are you starting to feel just a little bit frantic... worrying about money and keeping people satisfied? There are things you can do to simplify your life - and I will write about that more later. Today, I want you to sit back, take a breath and listen to your heart.
I love this season..... in my faith tradition, it is Advent.... the time of preparation for the coming of Jesus. A time to run counter to our commercial culture..... a time to SLOW DOWN.... to REFLECT .... to PRAY.
Jesus has never been about mandatory gift-giving or decorating. He was definitely about food - shared meals and celebrations! He was never about the frenzied excessive behaviors we exhibit at this time of year..... and what are we really supposed to be doing?
Preparing for the arrival of Jesus.
What would that To Do List look like?
I think it would have a LOT more sitting and listening on it. Maybe it would be more about being with friends and loved ones than spending money.
It would probably have personal touches to lonely people... rather than obligatory return cards to people you don't even know that satisfy some Christmas code of etiquette.
Sacrifice - giving until it's difficult.... to those who need it. True generosity recognizes good stewardship.
It might have forgiveness on it..... to the relative that made you so mad last year... to the grouchy shopper that cut you off in the traffic... and to YOU yourself for messing up - whatever that was.
It definitely would have recognition of the Almighty - whatever that looks like to you.
And gratitude - always gratitude.
The readings in my faith tradition this week are about the prophets who foretold the coming of the baby Savior.
Advent means that we get to be prophets. We get to share the good news about who is coming. Our LIVES will tell the story of the coming peace on earth, of Jesus, of the Kingdom of God.
It's time for us to go about our days living that message. It's time to re-think the way we spend the next few weeks.
Are you ready for Christmas? The day we celebrate the birth of the Savior?
Do you have mile-long lists of gifts to buy, cards to send, decorating to do, things to bake? Are you starting to feel just a little bit frantic... worrying about money and keeping people satisfied? There are things you can do to simplify your life - and I will write about that more later. Today, I want you to sit back, take a breath and listen to your heart.
I love this season..... in my faith tradition, it is Advent.... the time of preparation for the coming of Jesus. A time to run counter to our commercial culture..... a time to SLOW DOWN.... to REFLECT .... to PRAY.
Jesus has never been about mandatory gift-giving or decorating. He was definitely about food - shared meals and celebrations! He was never about the frenzied excessive behaviors we exhibit at this time of year..... and what are we really supposed to be doing?
Preparing for the arrival of Jesus.
What would that To Do List look like?
I think it would have a LOT more sitting and listening on it. Maybe it would be more about being with friends and loved ones than spending money.
It would probably have personal touches to lonely people... rather than obligatory return cards to people you don't even know that satisfy some Christmas code of etiquette.
Sacrifice - giving until it's difficult.... to those who need it. True generosity recognizes good stewardship.
It might have forgiveness on it..... to the relative that made you so mad last year... to the grouchy shopper that cut you off in the traffic... and to YOU yourself for messing up - whatever that was.
It definitely would have recognition of the Almighty - whatever that looks like to you.
And gratitude - always gratitude.
The readings in my faith tradition this week are about the prophets who foretold the coming of the baby Savior.
Advent means that we get to be prophets. We get to share the good news about who is coming. Our LIVES will tell the story of the coming peace on earth, of Jesus, of the Kingdom of God.
It's time for us to go about our days living that message. It's time to re-think the way we spend the next few weeks.
Are you ready for Christmas? The day we celebrate the birth of the Savior?
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