Post-Advent post IV

Now I can't remember which words I took these for, but I thought it wouldn't do any harm to pop them up on the ol' blog

Wake Up

It's time.  Light is dawning.

Expand

I've always liked the first line of the second verse.  The image of the universe straining at the seams to contain God incarnate.

Focus

In pulling right down into the detail, we find yet more beauty and interest.  The delicate tracery that blurs into non-existence from afar.

Delight

Even in the mundane and things that we don't like there can be space for delight.  Even we're not feeling delightful, we are delighted in.

Become

We are works in progress.  Some places you can see the scaffolding, some places right to the heart of the core structure.  Still others are screened by the workman's barriers.  Some places the outer finish is complete but the interior needs finishing.

Heal

And allow yourself to heal.  Christmas is one of those times when things come to a head.  When families are fractious and news is shared and it's easy to let the stress get to you and make you ill.  Take the time to heal.  The time to let hurts slip away.

Receive

 Have an open heart.  Don't declare yourself unworthy.  Receive because you don't deserve.  Can't deserve.

Beautify

This is a very utilitarian building.  All harling, glass and concrete.  The shadows make it a canvas.  That scene doesn't exist in 3D because of the distances and the perspective but it condenses onto the wall together.

Risk

Cinderella didn't show up in her carriage this year.  She was a bit scary-looking and the carriage wound up on the lawn for months.  That was a risk not worth taking again.  Not all risks are like that.

Advent post III

Wednesday

Thrive

We only thrive in the light (which makes me think of this song, yes, I was that cheesy Christian teenager).  At this time of year it can be so dark.  We get up in the dark, like the Wife of Noble Character (when I much prefer the attitude of the psalmist), we leave work in the dark.  Darkness seems to  fill the time that is our own.

Thursday

Abide

I abide in an abode.  This tickles me.  As does the picture above, whereby I am cheating and using a photograph someone else has taken.  I helped build the house though.  But to abide?  To abide is to stay, to endure.  Also to rest, to remain alongside.  There's a heavy peacefulness to it.

Friday

Notice

The things we notice.  The height of the water.  The stillness of the reflection.  The traffic in the background.  We once went to this park to find a thing and failed to notice it, even though it was in plain sight.  What are the things we don't notice?  Who are the people I don't notice?

Saturday

I watched a number of things on Saturday.  I watched country music videos at the gym, I watched the clock in order to get out on time (and managed it), I watched (and joined in with) dancing and singing.  I took photographs, which takes quite a lot of watching.

Sunday

Show up

These wee guys showed up in ourhouse this weekend.  They are on their way to show up too.  To show up for a saviour.  Who in turn is on his way.  To show up for us.  And we should show up.  Show up for those who ask.  Show up for those who don't.  For those who can't.  Show up just to be there.  Show up to do the thing that needs to be done.  Show up when it hurts.  Show up when it's easy and fun.  Show up when no-one believes you will.  Show up when someone believes no-one will.

Advent post II

Tuesday

#Imagine

Imagine what's over the horizon.  That's part of the hope of advent, isn't it?  Looking forward to something.  To the world being changed.  What might Mary and Joseph have been imagining would happen following the birth of their baby?  And did the events of his birth and the flight to Egypt blow their wildest imaginings right out of the water?

Advent with monks

This year I am trying a Thing.  A Thing that The Society of Saint John the Evangelist have come up with.  Like an advent calendar, only with fewer doors and markedly less chocolate.  Contemplative, like.  We'll see how this goes.

Sunday:

#Look

I do all my looking through glasses these days.  Makes for awkward photography, looking through droplets when I go out in the rain and nose scrinching to keep them up there.  But it keeps things from being fuzzy.  And getting your lenses right, so that things aren't fuzzy is important at this time of year.  Keeping things in focus and with the correct perspective, that sort of thing.

Monday:

#Remember

I think Christmas is a time when a lot of people remember loved ones.  The first Christmas without someone is one of those significant firsts that you can't really avoid.  So I remember my grandma as she prepares for her first Christmas in 60 years without this man.  And remember that I am fortunate to have known all of my grandparents and privileged to have enjoyed their company for three decades, even though I'm just down to the one now.