Monday of the First Week of Advent
You, O Lord, are a shield about me;
you are my glory, the one who lifts up my head.
Psalm 3:3
The cold rain. The email scam. The clutter of essential and insignificant papers completely obscuring the hall table. The presumed affronts. All that batters my weary soul. And then. The Advent call to stay awake, be alert, be ready. Impossible.
Surely God cannot be calling me to sleepless nights and anxious days.
And there I go. Barely one step into Advent and already I think I am on my own. As if.
God shields me. My gentle Savior cradles my head. My community reminds me we are in this together, equipped with all the necessary spiritual gifts for collective alertness as we wait for the revealing of Christ. And always, the prayers of many escort me all along the way.
