Scripture: Luke 2:19

Stories say that the dying words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel were, "Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me."

This life will offer you plenty of chances to run. The question is only: how fast and far and long can you go? The season is upon us and the days are full. There are things to be purchased and packaged and prepared at every turn. This season will give you every excuse you have ever needed to run, hard and fast and long.

But nothing about the Nativity makes sense.

The incarnation of the King flips everything upside down.

There will always be a chance to run. There will always be busy. But this season is yours for the taking. And it is full of wonder and magic and something to treasure at every turn. You will not accidentally happen upon the wonder, the traditions, the magic. You must take a breath and slow your pace, for the moments of this season are yours to live or to miss. It is never too late for wonder.

It will be up to us to prepare for the Night of the Child, to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight the paths. It will be up to us to make a journey of sorts toward Bethlehem, to spend some time listening to the story as it weaves its way through Advent. We are the ones who must make room in our hearts for the story to speak, who must listen carefully to its twists and its turns, listening for the places where it begins to tell us our own story.

-Ruth Haley Barton

Prayer:

Slow me down. Teach me to wait when I want to run. To be still when there are a million things to do. Give me wonder. The wonder to find you in the tiny moments I might have missed. Wonder to let those moments change me. Slow me down, O God, for the King is coming. Amen.