Daily Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44

But make sure you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

Romans 13:11-14, The Message

[The Message, Translation by Eugene H. Peterson, NavPress, 1993]

What am I doing with the days (weeks, months, years, decades) I’ve been given? Do I waste time on imaginary arguments and petty grudges? Do I forget to look into the eyes of the people I love most in this world, mumbling hello or goodbye as if I have an endless supply of comings and goings? Am I sleepwalking through life, unaware and uninterested in the sacred something more on offer every minute of every day?

My yearly wake-up call begins today: Advent. The time to get up, get dressed, and set out on the road to Bethlehem is now. Not tomorrow, not when it’s more convenient. NOW.

Am I going to settle for filling up my time, or do I want to live into the fulfillment of God’s love? Fill or fulfill?

Lord, give me enough sense and enough courage to step onto your sacred path and keep walking. Amen.