Advent Journey - Day 23
Scripture
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
God does not faint or grow weary;
their understanding is unsearchable.
They give power to the faint
and strengthen the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted,
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.Isaiah Chapter 40 verses 28-31
Reflection
A spiritual journey, or any journey, is not always plain sailing - it can be a tough road to follow. Jesus talked of it being a way that is narrow and steep (Matthew 7.14) - we should be under no illusions that all we be easy or straightforward when we set off on this journey.
But what we do have is the assurance that we aren't in this alone, not only do we have others who are on similar journeys, but we have the promise of a companion, the gracious Spirit of God, who sustains us, who fills and surrounds us with the love of God, a love stronger even than death. We are encouraged in our Scriptures to rest in God, not to strive by ourselves, but to allow the gentle hand of the Spirit to guide us, and to lead us to what the Psalmist called 'Green pastures and still waters."
Poem
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.