Week 2: Day 1

Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-5 and 12:1-6

The magic of this season will lie in the moments we devote to waiting and watching for Him to come. He will still come if our hearts are loud and our days are busy and our eyes are distracted. But there is magic to be found in the intentional moments of quiet, with our eyes and hearts taking notice of what has come. There is magic when we dare to celebrate as if he is near.

This season fills each of our senses with gifts: sights, sounds, things to smell and touch and taste. But, as Augustine reminds us, the gifts

must not terminate on themselves. Rather, they fill us with the glory and the praise and the worship of the most true Giver. He has filled this season with holy moments of nearness. Moments when you stand still in the middle of a room, full of those you love most, listening as his song bellows in the laughter and glad tidings. He will be near in the wonder and magic of the hearts of Children anxiously awaiting the beard and the belly of St. Nick whose story sets the stage of the greater benevolence of the perfect Giver. The twinkling

lights strung in long lines will announce the hope of the Immanuel. The smells and the sounds of every store and home, will be the aroma of the One who will put all things back together. In these moments when we choose to pause long enough notice His nearness, we will hear the whispers of our own stories as they are grafted into the greatest story.

Prayer: 

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. You are my salvation. I will trust and I will not be afraid for you are my strength and my song. I will thank you and I will call upon you. I will stand on the roof tops and declare what you have done for me. And the earth will cry, “Glory!”, for you are the giver of all good things.

Amen. (from Isaiah 12)