Apologies first of all for not blogging yesterday, my dad locked the office then went off to Edinburgh with the key in his pocket! Sorry, this is meant to be for the 9th.
Advent - a time of waiting. For lighting candles, praying, meditating, anticipating, looking forward, waiting with all our hearts. But what is this in reality? Are we really waiting on a God so amazing, to give us the ultimate present of all time? Or have we put God in a box again, forgetting to open the lid, squishing Him out of our busy routines each day?
What are we actually doing for Him this advent?
Walking down the street today, amongst the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, past signs of "Tis the seasin to be merry!" and other such revelating messages, it struck me how pointless it all was. We dive in and out of shops, picking up useless rubbish, indoctrinated about the fact that we must buy stupid pointless stuff for the sake of buying... Aren't we meant to be waiting? Aren't we meant to be waiting and watching and seeking for Him to make a move in our lives, our hearts, our souls? How many of us, every time we pick up a future-present for someone actually think what the giving is all about? Not many I'm guessing. We shove it in our bag, with a mutter of "Cath will like that, this'll do for Aunt May..."
I know this is turning into a rant... forgive me for that, please!! But, my message is this: God gave us the most astonishing life-changing present there is. To us. Sinful little earthlings. He gave us his son, His most valuable thing. And all we do in return is skit around being pressurised by one another to buy everyone rubbish and put God on hold for a while, while we get our shopping done.
I think it's time to stop. I think it's time to see where we stand. I think it's time we did something different this advent, and, indeed, this Christmas. Let's give a present back to God. Let's give Him our lives. Let's truly and thoroughly wait on Him. Let's seek Him with every ounce of our being. Let's ask Him where we are, what we should do, and listen for the answer that comes.
Let's give this advent back to God.
1 comment:
lots of food for thought there! it's good, I think, to be challenged at this time of year.
I was down in Oxford Street on saturday... it was suprisingly subdued for this time of year. I've seen busier days... I'm glad we went there now... we didn't plan to, but were in london and had travel cards, so thought "what the hey".
But there is also a lot of hype in these shops... some prices there were truely absurd. there were scarfs from £20 up in Next! this is absurd!
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