My boys do this thing where any time one of them sees a dog passing the house, they alert the others. They summon their brothers with a urgently hollered "Doggy! Quick!" and the others will make their way at top speed. They will then proceed to follow the dog's progress, as the pup and their person go about their business. This happens several times a day, every day, regardless of whether we are inside or outside. They always seem to have one eye on the roads outside, waiting expectantly for a fuzzy friend to show up.
It makes me wonder what would happen if we were watching for God to move with the same level of expectancy? How could we impact our communities if we were constantly on the lookout for what Holy Spirit is doing? What would it look like of we spotted Jesus and hollered to our fellow believers to come quick and witness His with-ness in this place? Am I aware of God on the street? Am I watching and waiting for what He's doing next, so that I can sound the alert to others in my sphere of influence, and call them to participate?
A little transparency here, I started writing this post in October. Of 2023. I couldn't tell you exactly why, but I knew that Holy Spirit had pressed the pause button on it so it's been sitting in my draft folder since then. But with the Advent season beginning tomorrow, God brought this back to my attention. The way my children watch for dogs passing by is the same way we are called to watch for the return of Christ. The ritual of Advent is a way to reorient the posture of our hearts, and re-trains us to live in that place of expectancy. It can be so easy to live that way during the build up to Christmas, when festive spirits are high and we are surrounded by others living in the same direction.
But it isn't supposed to end there. We are preparing our hearts to celebrate the coming of Christ and all that came after. Then we are supposed to be pointing ourselves, each other, and the World, to what is coming next. This is to be our way of life every day, not just in the closing month of our year. So I invite you to dive in to this Holy-day season with all the Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love that runs rampant, then take it with you into every ordinary day after. Remember that the Story isn't over yet.
We are standing at the window, calling everyone to "Come and see!"
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