Driving Into Advent

Remember learning to drive a car?  [shudder]

The hardest part for me was remembering to look out at the road, both far and near, then in my rear-view and side-view mirrors.  And doing so continually, back and forth, every 5 to 8 seconds.  I had to remind myself silently, almost in a mantra:  “OK, now look around.  Look back.  Look ahead.  Look to the side.”  First learning that skill was exhausting to me.

It is difficult to train your eyes to glance upon several things at once.  It can be done, but it takes time and patience.

Advent is a time like that.  We look back into the rear view mirror and see the Christ child in the manger at Bethlehem.  We look forward, down the road so to speak, to Jesus’ coming again.  And we look around, to find Jesus still present with us.

How can this be?  And how can we keep our eyes on all these things at once?

It can be done, but it takes practice.  The practice of worship.   After all, Advent is for us, for humanity, not for God!  It’s our time–our gift of time–to train our eyes, our hearts, and our spirits on looking behind, before, and around.

What (Whom) do you see?

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