Today's Quiet MomentSaturday, December 22
Take the time. Don’t be forever dashing. Try sauntering. The word saunter has an
instructive background. It’s from the French Sainte Terre, Holy Land, and refers to the easy pace taken by the pilgrims who were enjoying the trip itself as well as relishing the goal. Life itself is a holy land, and deserves to be enjoyed en route.
Joseph Gallagher
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Love this quote! Especially the line "enjoying the trip itself as well as relishing the goal."
I wanted to make my Advent this year more about living in the moment and listening and moving the way the Spirit lead.
Did I do it perfectly...umm..definitely not! But I think even trying to keep my focus on God and His Will for me, even in the little things, has made a huge difference in my Advent! (Hopefully, it will be something that continues to change me over the next year!)
There was something that struck me in our Deacon's Homily today. He was talking about Mary's visit to Elizabeth and how John the Baptist "leaped in his mother's womb" upon hearing Mary's voice.
I was thinking about how Jesus would come to me this Christmas. How will I receive Him? Will I recognize that He is even there? I want to!
I can see Jesus in the love of my family....any special gifts they may have chosen for me; all of us being home together and creating memories of another Christmas we are blessed to share; the kind words from friends....
I was also thinking about how I can bring Jesus to others. My words and actions can be life giving, and way more powerful, if I am offering them with Jesus' love. My words and actions are so much more powerful if I am trying to follow the path that God is showing me.
I can say that, during this Advent experiment, the times that I have heard God's whispers and acted on it have been incredibly satisfying experiences. Despite the craziness that the to-do lists that I have this time of year, I feel like I had more peace and more energy to get things done....even when I was doing the "extra" things I felt God asked me to do!
Part of that is because I had more peace letting go of some items on the list rather than try to stuff in everything I wanted to do. Guess what? Even though I didn't do everything, what I did do is so much more satisfying and I don't even miss what was erased off the list!
I'm not completely finished! There will be things to do tomorrow to finish preparing for Christmas. There's a cheesecake in the oven as I write and 2 more to be baked tomorrow. There's always the laundry and the dishes...and some extra cleaning to get the house ready for Christmas Day.
My hope is that I will spend the last day of Advent giving joyfully of my time and energy to make Christmas Day fun (and tasty) for my family. Most importantly, I want to give my kids a cheerful mom that puts their need for time and attention above a perfect house!
And now I am off to have a "picnic" with a special little 3 year old who is looking for attention:)
