Advent day 14

Matthew 17:9A, 10-13          Avent day 14

                Christmas is fast approaching. Are you going at warp speed yet? Have you been able to set aside time for God? Are you giving God the gift of some personal conversation or are you asking someone behind a counter "do you have this in extra large?" or "I just don't know what to get Aunt Beatrice!"

                 I can only urge you in the strongest way to set some time aside. You need to. God wants you to. God longs to hear from you. Setting aside time also respects the spiritual part of you which is as unique and integral as the color of your hair or the color of your eyes. God really does long to hear from you. 

                 Todays reading speaks of what happens when you let your life get too crazy busy. It speaks of what happens when we do not put aside the time I am talking about. The people in Jesus' time failed to see what was right in front of them, namely ,John the Baptist. Very few saw Jesus for who and what he was. Some saw Jesus, saw what he did, how he spoke and were amazed, perhaps even entertained. How many stopped and took the time to think about it? How many just got caught up in the crowd and  wound up in the crowd saying "crucify him!". Even his own disciple Peter, "Jesus who?"

               Don't get caught up in the race, at least not so much that you can't put aside time for what is truly important: you and your relationship with your Creator.

               If you don't have the time then, seriously, it is time to re-assess your life.

As they were coming down from the mountain,

the disciples asked Jesus,

"Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

He said in reply, "Elijah will indeed come and restore all things;

but I tell you that Elijah has already come,

and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased.

So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands."

Then the disciples understood

that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.