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God's way is the highwayTuesday, December 12, 2000
Luke 2:17, 19 Then there are days like yesterday, rain on the windows, rain on the sidewalks, rain in the morning, rain in the evening. Dark sky, unbroken gray day, slips into darkness at last! I can feel myself curl up inside, protecting something from all that water, all that darkness, all that sunless, airless, endless awful day. And finally, there is tomorrow. The forecast is for lots of snow. Enough snow, beginning early in the day, to quickly blanket Lincoln Avenue. Snow all day, white from the sky, coming from heaven to fall upon the place beneath. In the silence of the snowstorm, my fancy turns to reading Sherlock Holmes stories in a big chair in front of the fire, watching the snow fall and fall and fall. Watching, thinking, treasuring up one memory, one thought, one imagination, one hope after another. The shepherds may have fired off all their fireworks quickly, but what a bang they made! And Mary, slowly, deeply, turned her experiences into treasures, into pearls that lasted for her forever. When I began to write about this verse, I thought Mary's way was more "right" than the shepherd's. I don't think so anymore. They are just different. Most worship experiences with the Christ child are kind of quiet ("Don't wake the baby!"). We don't use fireworks on December 25. Maybe we should. After the fireworks, the stillness would be even more precious. Lord, you have created us with emotions that rise and fly into the heavens. And yet we can refine and purify our experience, turn blowing dust into diamonds, in the treasuring place you put within us. Thank you for painting us with such broad strokes, Lord; for creating us in your image. |
I am so affected by the weather. When the sun is shining, like today, I am too. I often burst with energy and find myself willing to share anything/everything with anybody. No secret is too special to be safe with me, when the sun is shining. The world is just one big happy family, and I want to have a party!