Advent Day 14

Day 14

Isaiah 7:10-14 ~ Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, Ask the lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights. But Ahaz said, I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said, Hear now your house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign and will call him Immanuel.

We live in this constant state of now. I want this now, that needs to be instantaneous, another thing we stop because it is taking too long. We pre order, pre-buy, and pay people just to wait in lines so that we don’t have to. This is a mind blowing and seriously crazy concept. Can you imagine if just a few years ago we all had to go back to dial up internet? America would be groaning at the pace of things and there would be constant complaints. With that we like to have signs of where we are with the progress. Just think about UPS and Fedex tracking on our packages so we can check to see exactly where they are. We have tracking in the fast food line as to how long it takes to have your food ready.

Tracking in the upload process as we see the percentage sign of our upload slowly creep higher and higher. Another process is the circle of death on computers as something on our screen tries to open. All of these are signs that we have grown accustomed to the rush mentality. Christmas provides for us the most beautiful sign of all. We get the sign of a birth, a birth whose birth was unlike anyone else. The sign of a birth whose life was impeccable but whose death, he himself conquered. This sign is a sign of wonder, of fear and of amazement. We often forget this sign. Look this season for the sign of wonder. Be the sign of hope in someone else’s life. Restore peace to the broken, mend heart and learn that signs no matter how small have the ability to alter realities. Be the sign of hope and joy in the world reflecting the sign of Immanuel.