Mornings are busy at our house. Well, no more so than for most
households with young children. We live in a rural area—at the end of the
school busy route, no less—and our oldest, Anna, is the first child picked up
by her bus in the mornings. Bright and early. So we too are up bright and early
and have a half hour from when alarms wake us till Anna’s bus pulls up to the
end of our drive.
While the requisite adherence tour kindergartener’s schedule means our
former flexibility in mornings is gone (daycare has a window for drop off) the
accompanying structure has been good for us. But it has, nonetheless, been an
adjustment.
As we began this week, the new year on the church calendar as Advent
begins, I dusted off the booklet of family Advent devotions I purchased last
year in an attempt to help our family find some grounding in the midst of the
Christmas hoopla. Last year our mornings, being less structured and admittedly
a bit more lazy, meant we never could get into routines aside from “Hurry up,
hurry up!”
Yes, ironically, the lazier you are, the more you often have to rush.
I hate that.
This year, though, I thought we’d try. So we are.
Each morning, as the girls eat a quick breakfast at the dining room
table (it’s clear of piles of stuff
at present, which itself is a feat in our house) we light the Advent candles.
We don’t have an Advent wreath, but somehow ended up with five spare Christmasy candle cups,
which works for us! We light the Advent candle, read the devotion, sing a verse
of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” and close with a prayer.
Don’t be too impressed. We’re two days in and a meltdown started over
who got to blow the candle out today.
Today’s reading included one of the verses (Isaiah 7:14) which gives
Jesus the name “Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.”
Years ago, I was asked to summarize the message of the Gospel in one
sentence. I could do it in that one word. That one title: Emmanuel.
God is with us.
John Wesley is said to have affirmed it in his last words: “The best of
all is God is with us.”
It is what the Christmas story is about.
It is what makes Christianity unique amongst world religions.
It is what we mean when we affirm Jesus’ words that he is the way, the
truth and the life.
It can be easy to toss around these verses and songs like “O Come, O
Come, Emmanuel” this time of year without really thinking of their
implications. Of their promise. And their challenge.
When I look at the world around me—heck, when I just look at the year
this has been in our own family—I see many times and situations when God felt
far. When It was one thing to affirm God’s presence and power but quite another
to actually believe it. And yet…
I cannot help but be powerfully struck by the ways God showed up.
Showed up in incredible ways.
Sometimes God showed up through new opportunities or good news from
doctors. Other times God showed up in the midst of disappointments and fears.
God showed up in the words and support of others, and God showed up when we had
the chance to reach out in love to God’s people.
And yes, God shows up on busy mornings. When the morning routine can
spare only three minutes, overlapping with a few bites of a breakfast bar, to
be reminded the God is indeed with us.
With us.
God.
With us.
How incredible.
May your mornings…and days…be filled with the firm assurance of God’s
presence in the midst of busy-ness. Joy. Devastation. Work. Rest. Play. Love.
Brokenness.
God. Is. With. Us.
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