Second Tuesday of Advent

Rejoice in the LORD, O you
         righteous.
   Praise befits the upright.
Praise the LORD with the
         lyre;
   make melody to him with
         the harp of ten strings.
Sing to him a new song;
   play skillfully on the
         strings, with loud
         shouts.
For the word of the LORD is
         upright,
   and all his work is done in
         faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and
         justice;
   the earth is full of the 
         steadfast love of the 
         LORD.
By the word of the LORD the
         heavens were made,
   and all their host by the
         the breath of his mouth.
He gathered the waters of
         the sea as in a bottle;
   he put the deeps in
         storehouses.
           Psalm 33:1-7

Here, the leaves have stopped dancing across the lawns and are curling up trying to keep warm against the first bite of winter's wind.  In another part of the world, plants are spring up, birds are singing people awake, stars shoot across summer skies, breezes tease through the trees.  Some of us prepare ourselves for the bleak midwinter blahs (physical and emotional), while others are looking forward to all the blues concerts they can attend in their shorts and sandals.  What a gift God has given to us in this marvelous creation in which we are blessed to live!

The psalmist reminds us that in whatever season we find ourselves, God watches over all of us.  And in every season, God's steadfast love, God's steadfast justice, God's steadfast watchfullness are with us, because God is such a lover of righteousness and justice.  It's not a mater of whether or not God is in our midst, according to the psalmist, it's a matter of whether or not we pay attention to this Presence!

So, take a moment from worrying about when the first snow/ice storm of the year will come, and watch the child, with tongue placed firmly into the cheek of her mouth, patiently making a gift for her little brother.  Stop packing the car for the trip to the beach, and notice the family across the street who, as they do every Saturday, is heading down to volunteer at the soup kitchen.  Pull over to the side of the road on your race to the mall, and watch the pierced and tattooed young man helping an elderly driver change the flat on their car. 

It's not just for a moment, of a day, or a season, but it is in all our moments, all our days, all the seasons we have been given that we see God's love shown in creation and through the created.

(c) 2011  Thom M. Shuman