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Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash |
Dormancy - “The state in which a
plant is alive but not actively growing.”
Today’s “Purple” Advent devotionalfrom Presbyterian Outlook invites reflection on what we discovered in our Advent
journey. I was about to move on and say, “Nothing.” It’s been a tough
season. I started out with lots of plans
that never became reality. But I did learn something. Or maybe relearned something in a new
way. Suffering puts things in
perspective. When life is so difficult
that our focus narrows to just making it to the next moment and then the next
one, many of the things we thought were worth our time and worry become
irrelevant.
For example, I bought enough cans
of pumpkin to make bread for neighbors and coworkers and friends, wanting to be
one of those people who has a gift for everyone. That didn’t happen. I bought Christmas cards last year at the
post-Christmas sale so I could send one to everyone. That didn’t happen either. I also had
visions of spending deep, thoughtful, prayerful time with our Advent devotional
readings, and some days I did, but most days I just sat and prayed for God to
redeem the day. Or just sat, thankful
for the coffee, thankful for making it through the night.
Today, looking back, I’m thankful we got to today, but I’m also
realizing that the numbness that made getting here possible also meant that it
hasn’t been a time of growth. Instead it’s
been a time of dormancy, and maybe that’s appropriate since it’s winter. We
have seasons in our lives much like nature, and sometimes they coincide. Bears hibernate and sleep. Trees and plants stop growing. People rest.
Yesterday I was admiring the trees. Without the cover of leaves, we can see all
the lines of limbs and branches and twigs.
I like the green of leaves, but I also like the bare lines and angles
and curves. In their dormancy, all that
hides those lines is gone. They’re down
to the basic structure, resting, existing, waiting, being. We’ve had some of that ourselves in this
season. Instead of leaves, we wear masks
that hide the real life inside, and there have been some days when it was
impossible to hide the real, so we had to just be.
We often feel guilty about dormancy because the world seems to be
all about productivity. Keep
moving. Keep doing. And sometimes that’s even helpful. But sometimes we just can’t.
That’s why God put the sabbath in the Ten Commandments, and why
God told Israel to trust him to fight for them.
“The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” –Exodus 14:14
So today I’m acknowledging that I don’t always like the way things
are or the way things happen, but I’m trusting that even when I’m being still,
God’s still working. I may not know how or
when or where, but that’s ok, because God is God and I am not.
Thanks be to God.
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