December 12, 2020 - Advent Devotion
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On Jordan's banks the Baptist's cry,
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Awake and hearken, for he brings,
Glad tidings of the King of kings.
“The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of the Lord will stand forever.”
Just twelve days to go. Wow! How did that happen? How will it all get done? Today is Saturday. Weekends this time of year, weekends during Advent and Christmas, are rarely, quiet, peaceful, wide open, free of commitments or details. Do you ever get anxious? Do you ever get even more anxious wondering how it will all get done?
We all have deadlines. Children have homework. Some people have presentations, others have products to ship, others have reports to write. Families have commitments. We can all feel at times like we are fading or withering. Even in our desire to make God and neighbor first, to prepare the way of The Lord, we confess early on we will never get it all done in time to announce The Lord is nigh, to hearken all he brings, to proclaim glad tiding of the King of kings.
This will be a sign for us: God's grace does not depend on us having all things ready, getting it all done ourselves. If God's grace arriving was dependent on us, grace would never come. That is grace! Grace takes the anxiousness away! Trusting 'the word of the Lord will stand forever' even though we wither and fade; this is God getting it all done, this is grace!
Let us pray: Jesus today I confess to you I have a lot to do. I am not sure I will get it all done. I confess I am not sure how to make time for you in the midst of other deadlines. I confess, too, there are times I feel like it all depends on me. I get anxious. I feel ashamed. I feel like I might wither or fade. It is then that you grace me again. May each sign of your grace calm me in the midst of all the deadlines, that I might know enough is enough, that I am enough, that I might proclaim glad tidings of the King of kings, that I might believe, the word of The Lord will stand forever. In Jesus' name I pray trusting God's grace alone gets all things ready. Amen.