We are starting the third week of Advent. Way back when, seems like ages ago, we were anticipating. Wondering and imagining what the season would look like as it unfolds. Last week we started making plans, and thinking about what happens when plans don't go as expected. Now it's time to get out our map!
I love paper maps (not folding them, but using them!). How long has it been since you looked at a paper map? I do use my Google map or the GPS on my phone, but the information found on a paper map gets me excited. There are notes about the size of the road, landmarks and monuments to find, and information on distance from one place to another. When we went on our New England trip in 2013 I had laminated paper maps that I could use a marker on and plan our drive for each day. It is good to have maps, but all forms of maps have their issues. Just like a GPS may take us to a completely dead end or a street that has the same name but in a totally wrong location, a paper map can be outdated almost as soon as it is printed. Most of you have probably experienced road work wherever we drive these days, and maps don't usually show us the detours and closed roads that we may encounter.
So what does a map have to do with our journey through Advent? I don't know about you, but when it gets down to these last 2 weeks before Christmas I have lists everywhere! Notes about gifts I still need to purchase or wrap, events that I need to attend, tasks that need to be done for my jobs (direct sales is exciting at Christmas time, but I have customers that I value so I need to take care of them too- the work still needs to be done). Add in this year that my husband is in the hospital and I need to make sure things are in place as he comes home and recovers. Of course all of the normal bill paying, housework, laundry and animal care still needs to be done as well- I need a detailed map.
I'm sure you can figure out where I am going with this...... my map in this busy time is my Bible. It would be so easy to just rush through each day and check items off of my lists then move on to the next thing. When I make sure that at the top of that list is a moment to just sit and be quiet ~ to read the words and reflect on why we even have this season, it helps the chaos quiet just a little bit, and gives a calmness to my soul. Mary was obedient and served her God in a time that had to be the most disturbing of her life. The unknown, the questions, the doubt. I don't look at the Bible as a fairy tale or fantasy. It is a long standing map of hard life situations, reliance on God and how grace, love and forgiveness win out over all. It is the unchanging map that I go to when life throws dangerous and unexpected road construction in my way. When I turn those pages and read I find unexpected landmarks and treasures that can only be found when I look closely. I've been reading my Bible for close to 50 years, and I still find something new and life-giving each time I read it.
As you get ready for these 13 days before Christmas, choose what map you want to follow. What will keep you on the right road and get you to where you want to be?
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
Prayer focus: Take a few moments today to look at the map that is guiding your day. Pray for a clear direction to take, without roadblocks. Pray that God will remove obstacles that are keeping you from Him.
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