"A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them." Liberty Hyde Bailey
Pay attention and bear witness to the efforts made by goodness. Advent is a season of preparation and waiting. We prepare with decorations and celebrations, giving and receiving. We wait to celebrate the Lord's birth.
As a kid, the waiting was the hardest and, also, the most fun. I remember waking each December morning, eager to be the first one to the kitchen. A handmade felt Advent calendar hung from the door to the basement. I wanted to be the one who got to add the next fuzzy little ornament on the dark green felt Christmas tree. The countdown each day was a giant thrill. How many days left until Santa came?!
Now, the preparation is where I am finding the thrills. Small, unexpected thrills in the ordinary. It began with simply showing up more at church, allowing myself to be a part of the community. However, each year I find my perception of this season shifts and new appreciation blossoms.
This year, it started with the urn planters outside the main entrances. I always assumed the greenery was ordered in from a florist for the holiday. What I did not know was that the greenery comes from St. Mark's very own gardens. Yes, all the evergreen; the scotch pine, chameocypress and northern pine, the brilliant red twig dogwood branches and the deep blue juniper berries. All collected and carefully arranged by women of St. Mark. New appreciation. Something that was once ordinary now had a deeper meaning for me.
Efforts of goodness in the care of our gardens and appreciation in the beauty those gardens supply even in the coldest months. Planting and waiting. Preparing and waiting.
Sitting in the back of the sanctuary on Wednesday night, I bared witness to more preparation listening to the chancel choir practice for the cantata. The greetings, the smiles, the laughter and, of course, the singing. Harmony filling the empty space of unoccupied pews. The sight and sound stirred up a warmth inside me. A reaction I did not expect.
Patient labor and attention. Preparation for joy. Efforts of goodness in the sound of voices rejoicing, telling the story of our savoir's birth. Practicing and waiting. Preparing and waiting.
I want to pay attention and bear witness as I allow my heart and mind be prepared by the goodness that is always present, especially in the ordinary.
Nikki Douglas
Jeremiah 33:14-16 New International Version (NIV)
14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
15 “‘In those days and at that time
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
he will do what is just and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved
and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’
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