by Paula D'Arcy, Redbird Foundation
from the book: Daybreaks

I think about what it would be like for me to deeply trust the road of my life.

I don't take the long view often enough. Along with everyone else, I can be so easily swept up in the traditions and events of the moment, all of which are heightened at this season leading up to Christmas. House lights are strung earlier each year, and on my own street seasonal displays fill many yards before Thanksgiving. Last year a professional lighting company left a flyer in my door handle offering their services to outline my dark roof. But our traditions, though beautiful, also have the power to distract us from reaching into the heart of the world. Bushmen storytellers speak of our great hunger for meaning. There is something so much greater than the decorations and gaily wrapped gifts, if I'll let myself know it.

The truth is you cannot stay the same, stay busy and overcommitted, and be walking toward that Bethlehem stable in a way that will change you. The manger makes a fierce demand: Will you allow something extraordinary to materialize in your life? Will you take full responsibility for your life? Will you look around you and reach into the world, willing to love more deeply?

I don't want my arms to be so full, my attention so distracted, that I cannot hear that fierce demand. In my better moments, I know the final work of every life is love. All we have is this moment. Right now. The journey to Bethlehem beckons.

For these days of Advent I will slow down, not speed up. I will take more care with people, not less. I will be aware of my own personhood. What am I creating with this life I've been given?

---

Join me in the meditations of Advent, in anticipation of the coming of the Light, and the birth of the Prince of Peace. I will be posting a new meditation daily.

May your blessings be plentiful!



"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
by Gypsy Soul, from their album Sacred.