Message from Augie

Our spiritual lives, if left untended, may still exit but might also wither away to next to nothing.  If we want our spiritual lives to flourish, they must be tended- carefully!

We have just experienced a wild winter lake effect storm.  For those of you who are gardeners, this caught us off guard and in a frenzy.  Everything was going fine and then boom the snow hit.  If you didn’t do preventive work your annuals took a hit.  As the snow melted I watched, as every twig and branch shriveled and detached.  Leaving only a waist high stump.   And it looked as if these plants were dead.

At least  that is what I assumed.  As the snow melted I noticed something green, barely visible.  What I thought to be dead was real and alive.  The hope of that moment kindles Isaiah’s words.  We all long for that shoot from the stump of Jesse, the One who will come and transform everything so surprisingly that predator and prey will live in peace, that the least of us will lead the rest of us, that all creation will be full of the knowledge of God.  Every Advent, we await his birth as a tender baby, and his return in glory.  But this waiting must be active, because only then can transformative potential grow into reality.

A plant taught this to me.  God’s sun and rain and time helps all to flourish again.

SO THE QUESTION:    HOW MIGHT ACTIVE WAITING NURTURE YOUR OWN TRANSFORMATION?