“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
Victor Frankl
Behind every door is a living Advent of longings and needs; people who might welcome a visit, the poor, the sick, the bereaved, the lonely, the battered, the lost, the addicted. There are problems that need basic and more complex solutions.
So often our cry becomes "If only we could make the world look more like the heaven that we already see by faith."
As Christine Sine says
"We can become overwhelmed with all the brokenness and need in the world and our limited ability to speak and act into that need. But the reality of Christ incarnate makes possible the planting of little mustard seeds of hope, joy, celebration, healing, and reconciliation all over the world; seemingly insignificant acts emerging, growing, and becoming “far more than we can ever ask or imagine.”
Behind every closed door is a human heart that can be filled by the love of God.
The poor have to be cared for, the hungry have to be fed, the homeless have to be sheltered, and the sick need to be healed but it is naive to believe that all the pain of human unfulfilled needs will be healed. Nevertheless, the human hope that Christ can change us remains.
At the start of Advent we train our eyes to see God even without the angels and trees, the crèches and stars.
We have to focus instead on the basics of light in the darkness, silence in the chaos, and stillness in the turmoil.
It’s almost as if Advent calls us to faith in the Real Absence of Christ—to believe in Emmanuel even in our darkness, in God-With-Us even when we hear no answer, and in the Incarnation even when we feel nothing at all.
Two songs; one summing up the human recognition that striving for the material is worthless but giving love away is never futile and the second is the need to acknowledge our dependence on God.
Throw it All Away by Abbey Lincoln
Be Thou My Vision
3 comments:
Such a beautiful post, thank you.
Welcome nd Many thanks Fran- thought people were sleeping off Thanksgiving it's so quiet here !!
Blessings
Thank you for these insightful words re: darkness and faith... and great song: Throw It All Away.
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