#AdventBookClub: Day 19: Taking Time and Paying Attention

Looking back at some of the responses to Brian’s #advent20, lots of ‘selfies’ from people, and also this poem (Ann Lewin, Reflection):

God’s work of art.
That’s me?
Then beauty must lie
In the eye of the
Beholder.
I feel more like
One of those statues
Michelangelo left
Half emerging
From the marble block;
Full of potential,
On the verge of life,
But prisoned still
By circumstance and
Fear.

Yet part of me is free –
And you are still creating,
Bringing to life
The promise that is there.
Sometimes by
Hammer blows
Which jar my being,
Sometimes by
Tender strokes half felt
Which waken me to
Life.

Go on, Lord.
Love me into wholeness.
Set me free
To share with you
In your creative joy;
To laugh with you
At your delight
In me,
Your work of art.’

Get me, checking out poetry – that bodes well for #bigread14. Today’s challenge from Brian – we’re too busy being busy:

Have a wander. And pay attention to something a child is noticing. It doesn’t have to be your child. We all see plenty of children being dragged by their parents past things they want to stop and look at. Watch for what they see, and see it yourself with fresh eyes

My brain is thinking – maybe when I’ve had some sleep!!

Today or tomorrow I need to record John 1:1-14, ready for @online carols – so I love that it’s today’s verse for Ron Glusenkamp, with verse 1 that he always quotes at weddings, because it’s a social gathering… and it always reminds me of David Wilkinson saying “God is a communicating God, he doesn’t have to be persuaded to communicate with us – he gave us his Word.”

Maggi returns us to the need to look for silent spaces, and echoes from Brian above the need to slow down and pay attention to what it around us, and to discover God in those listening spaces. Referring us back to Genesis 18, we head about the visit of the angels … who, unlike us these days, were not in a hurry to get the next task done, but took time to be with one another, rather than ‘message done’ and move on.. and that made lunch today very enjoyable – yes it was ‘fast lunch’, but just ‘being’:

Oh, and as Allan’s post says – taking time before pressing ‘send’ – I’d say on Tweets, Facebook, whatever…