Pay attention. This is another timeless theme of the spiritual life. Paying attention. To our lives. To our spirits. To our feelings. To others. To the presence of the sacred, the holy.
In the stories of the nativity of Jesus in the gospels, there are lots of special ‘signs.’ Joseph has dreams. Elizabeth’s baby kicks. Mary entertains the angel Gabriel. The wise ones see and follow a star. The shepherds see the skies open up and hear the songs of angels. There is one magnificent manifestation after another. But these are only impactful because someone is paying attention.
Joseph could have dismissed his dreams as indigestion. Of course baby’s kick inside the mother. Why does Elizabeth think that is some kind of sign? Mary could have turned up the radio or the podcast she was listening to and ignored Gabriel. Had he gone to other young women before Mary? The shepherds could have been fast asleep in the fields and missed the whole show with the angels. The wise ones could have dismissed the star as some kind of anomaly, noted it in their charts, and gone home to bed for the night.
All of the characters in these stories are paying attention. They are open. They have space in their lives, time, for the breaking in of something important. They are not so distracted by entertainments and information and greed that they miss the power of Divine Love active in their lives.
We can be so heavily scheduled and distracted by a million things, literally a million or more with smart phones and the internet, that we may very well miss how God is seeking to love us into wholeness. In these last days before Christmas, may we remember to pay attention.
Prayer: As advent comes to a close, may I remember to pay attention. May I seek to be aware of the power of love in my life and in the world around me. Always. Amen.
This devotion was prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 