It’s been incredibly mild for the end of November, most days in the 50s and nights in the low 30s. As I think about the stray that shares breakfast with my old outdoor/indoor cat, I wonder how he will survive the winter. Got to get him neutered before I can let him in.
The robins seem to be gone, but not the blue jays, still swooping down and eating the cat food left on the deck. The ground is even still pliable, good for planting – I still have a little less than half a bag of daffodils, and if I get to cleaning out the garage today, I’ll put pots of daffodils to force in the late winter.
Neither the earth nor the squirrels have gone to sleep -- those pesky critters are still trying to get to the bird food. This day before the First Sunday in Advent promises to be beautiful, one certainly for work in the garden but one for taking pleasure in it as well.
Prayer for the Day
Still dark as the sunrise becomes later and later,
It is a time to think about the day to come;
Sometimes we are overwhelmed thinking about what to pray for,
Forgetting that prayer is often just listening for your Spirit.
Be with us, O God, as we move into the time of Advent,
Remembering that waiting speaks to us as well as fulfillment.
In the name of the One who teaches us how to wait,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
It is very strange that the years teach us patience - that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting.
- Elizabeth Taylor, English novelist, from A Wreath of Roses (1912-1975)
Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts.
- Elizabeth Elliot, American poet
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
God does not faint or grow weary; God’s understanding is unsearchable.
God gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless
Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;
But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40: 27-31