Well, this one was easy as I almost always hold the door open for students when they come into class, so task accomplished. My poor husband though, who I met for lunch, couldn’t seem to get anyone to walk through any door he tried to hold open! Poor guy.
This topic got me thinking actually about how holding the door open for people is more than just the literal act of holding open a door. We can all “hold the door open” for people in lots of different ways. We can take a meal to someone. We can spend time visiting someone who might be lonely. We can give a young person some much needed encouragement or sound advice that they might not be able to get at home due to circumstances quite often out of their control. We can do so many things to “hold the door open.”
Today’s reading was about Isaiah and his prophecy of Jesus. The gospel was about Jesus telling the disciples basically, hey, I’m THE GUY, THE ONE, remember yesterday when I was wondering what exactly Andrew and Simon saw that made them leave immediately? Today Jesus said this:
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I say to you,
many prophets and kings desired to see what you see,
but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”
I believe the bible is a living book. It speaks to us wherever we are. It’s God’s way of communicating with us, among others, every time I open it I learn something or hear something I never quite heard before. God meets us in His word where we are. Today Jesus told me, it’s ME, I AM the one you are looking for, don’t be like the people who refuse to hear the good news, be like a little child. To do that, Father says you have to be open minded, open to all the possibilities a relationship with Jesus brings.
The Advent reflection today introduced me to a cool website called, wearesaltandlight.org. My husband and I met with a friend over the summer about trying to do something for the youth at our church to give them the opportunity to go out and practice their faith in a concrete way. I am of the mind though that kids need models and so if they see their parents and other church members practicing their faith in concrete ways they will follow suit. We talked about creating a database that contained the different gifts of parishioners so that we could match them up with people in our parish who are in need of concrete help in addition to prayer. Nick Vujicic from Life Without Limbs, says we are God’s hands and feet. If you don’t know who he is, google him, and then you will know why this is amazing. We want our daughter to live her life with intention. To have a purpose and a goal and so I think we need to model that for her so she knows what that looks like and how it is to live with intention under God’s direction. Sometimes she’ll ask me what I think she should do when she grows up and I always ask her what she thinks God is asking her to be. She thinks so far maybe a vet or a nun. I want grandchildren so I’m hoping for vet, ha ha. She has a love for animals and she has a love for people. She has a very sweet heart. I like that about her. She is a good example for me. It was good to come across this website because now it has made me want to spend some time over the break looking through it and really making a plan for this next year and living that plan intentionally.
I feel happiest when I am helping others. I think most people do in general but I know for some people it feels more like a chore. I just know that I really have enjoyed having our little troop work on service projects this year instead of some of the other “lessons” we are supposed to be doing.
The other cool reminder I got today, going back to something I mentioned yesterday about migrants and refugees, was that Jesus, Mary and Joseph were refugees. They had to flee to Egypt to escape Herod. I never thought of that before. The challenge question today was to think about Mary and Joseph, particularly Joseph and how he must have felt at having to leave his home, frankly for political reasons. We see that with many many migrants and refugees. I imagine Jesus is very close to them as He understands what it is to be a refugee.
I am constantly amazed at how God made one person who could understand so many many many different facets of human life. Jesus was born but also adopted. He was a refugee. He was poor. He worked. He had friends. He was persecuted and mocked. He was constantly questioned by the Pharisee, a way to check his intelligence, I suppose. He suffered the loss of a good friend. He despaired. I think we’d be hard pressed to find any situation that we find ourselves in that Jesus didn’t also live through. Amazing. Our pastor says that the number one most important thing in our lives is to get to know Jesus, to call him friend. Today I was listening to a podcast and the woman preacher asked if we were dating Jesus or married to Jesus, because you treat those two situations differently, one is total commitment, the other lukewarm.
Well, lots to think about today. I didn’t even write about St. John Damascene, who had to flee his country because of religious persecution. I’m really glad a friend suggested I try out the holidailies because its given me a goal to be intentional about. Thank you friend!
Today for finding out about wearesaltandlight.org, for being reminded about all the ways Jesus knows me, for my husband holding my door open, for Advent, for good strong run this morning, for the roasted chicken I am making for dinner, and for the beautiful view of the snow on the mountains…I Give Thanks!
KOR
It’s hard to see kind of but here’s a picture of our snow capped mountains. A great sight here in my Ca Valley…
Thankful Runner Girl 