Just a little bit of help.........

Just a little bit of help, please.

That's what most of us are looking for in our lives, and boy do I get it.  Some days I ask the universe, "Can't you make it just a little bit easier?"  "Does everything have to be so hard?"  even though we both know that when the trials of my life are compared to millions of others, mine is a ridiculous request.

But life can be wearing, exhausting, and some days it feels like every single force of both nature and the unnatural are conspiring against us.  On really bad days, I am certain that this is true.  Some days I simply don't want to be an adult.  I want someone else to be responsible, someone else to care for me; someone else to fix it.

For many, this role is given to God.  God is the great fixer, the one who will care for us, the great adult in the sky who makes our lives here on earth easier.  God as the cosmic handyman.  This is certainly a starting point for a relationship with God, but in fact, it is a small picture of the God of all creation, the source of all life.  In the end, it isn't a relationship at all since once our troubles have eased, once the crisis is over, once we gotten enough sleep, we move on from conversation with God and leave God behind.

It's a good thing that God doesn't treat us the same way.  God never leaves us behind.  God never says, "One and done" and moves on to love and care for and heal someone else.  God's eye is always on us, and God looks on us in love.  Life is God's ultimate goal: abundant life for all, even the ones who only check in when the going gets rough.

So God sends Jesus.  Once in a manger in Bethlehem.  Once at a time we cannot foretell.  God breaks into our world with a message about another kingdom, where life is gift and joy.  Jesus comes - no, that's not right - Jesus crashes into all the barriers we create, all the protections we put in place, all the power sources we accumulate in order to open a way to a new life, a new kingdom.

Boom!  Racial differences don't matter.  Boom!  Genders are equal.  Boom!  Old and young are valued the same.  Boom! Those who look different from us are treated exactly the same as us.  Boom! The poor are loved just like the wealthy.  Boom!  Here is forgiveness.  Now go and live.

Boom! Jesus crashes in.  Once in a manger.  Once at a time we cannot foretell.......but for which we can hope.  This is the HOPE of Advent, that longing and watching and waiting for the fullness of all time when the final curtain is raised and Jesus reigns.

We live out our lives in HOPE.  Come Lord Jesus.

Dear Lord, I want to live in your kingdom.  Help me walk with you daily.  Amen