Everyday Expecting

Growing up in Oklahoma, the winters were long, cold, and bleak.

No frozen ponds to play hockey on.

No mountains to go skiing on.

Just the cold, humid wind blowing across the Great Plain.

Everyone once in a while though, we would be in a two week stretch of "possible" snow.

During these stretches we would eagerly wake up and go check the window first thing in the morning to see if it had snowed. we were everyday expecting the ground might be covered in white.

When we get to this week's Advent passage (Matthew 11:2-11), we see John's disciples anticipating the arrival of a Messiah in their world to come and make all things right. They come and ask Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?" They were everyday expecting.

It's important to note that these folks were professional "expecters" - in other words, they weren't getting paid to "expect" it's just something they did in the normal course of their faith-filled life. They were carpenters, fisherman, merchants, traders, home makers, and the list goes on, and in the midst of their everyday family, friendships, work, interactions, etc. - they were expecting the arrival of someone to come and disrupt everything.

Advent reminds and invites us into a similar season. We ought to carry on with the joys of life - families, friendships, work, interactions, etc., but we ought to allow it to be filled with some holy "everyday expectation" that God just might show up and disrupt the stuff going on in our lives.

The kind of disruption that awakens us to the holy and divine - the very presence of God around us.

I hope Advent disrupts us just a bit like this.