On Sunday Tannya F. wrote a beautiful advent candle lighting that she shared in service. Here is what she wrote and shared:
This will come as a surprise to you, but I am an impatient person.
I drive, to John’s frustration, 9 miles over the speed limit. I plan my route when
I’m driving for the quickest, most efficient way possible. I pay a couple of bucks
extra to get quickie shipping from Amazon. I really struggle that week after finals
when I’m waiting for my grades. It’s not that I want to rush through life; I just
don’t want to wait for it.
And yet….
There are some moments that are so absolutely important, so absolutely pure
that they fall into our lives like sparkling snowflakes on a velvet dark night. Those
rare and glistening times in our lives we hold forever. The first time you heard “I
love you” for the right person. Maybe it was that one summer night, in a
convertible racing through the warm air without a care in the world. For me it
was that firs minute when they handed me Klansee. For Grace, maybe the
moment she wished the Civil Rights marchers good luck as they stepped out of
Daddy’s church fellowship hall.
Some moments just hang in the air like the most perfect note in an aria. But by
their very nature they’re rare. They can be missed if you’re paying attention to
finals, to shopping, bills, work, and holiday hoopla.
Christmas can be one of those moments. I imagine Joseph was stomping through
dusty, dung covered streets. He was concentrating on taxes and hotel bills,
donkey feed; anything but the moment just hovering around the corner.
[Light]
Today’s candle is the candle of time. Not the cheap through-away minutes we
lose in drive-thru lines, stoplights, and waiting for commercials to end. Today we
light a candle to remind us to pay attention for those exquisite moments of
perfection, moments when we see and feel God exploding in our hearts. We light
the candle to anticipate the infinite God, in the fragile child.
We light the candle and wait.
