How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
Isaiah 52:7-9
Have you ever had a moment when you realized that after a day, or week, or month, that you were so focused on the minutiae of life that you were missing out on the beauty of your days? It is so easy to plow through life concentrating on details, concerns, issues — a kind of tunnel vision — and forget to look up to see the many blessings around us. I have days like that. I write these short blog posts to help break the cycle; they provide a self-imposed reflection and help me praise God!
Advent season is about looking up, listening, anticipating, eagerly awaiting. There is no better way to prepare for Christ’s coming than to spend a few minutes reading the Word, meditating on it, talking to the Father about the Christmas story and His second coming. The phrase in the old hymn comes to mind, “Tune my heart to sing thy grace.”
I need time with the master tuner.
I watched a friend tune his guitar a while back. He attached a tuner to the neck of the guitar. As he plucked a string, he listened, watched the display to see how the values lined up, and turned the tuning pegs a little to the right, to the left until the note matched the display perfectly.
When I read the Word, I align my thoughts with the display God has given me. As I meditate, I consider what God has said and what I believe — turning the tuning pegs of my thoughts to make a match. I listen as I meditate to hear the Spirit’s conviction and affirmation. My heart is drawn upward in praise!
The season of Advent is a time for
tuning our hearts so that we can sing His praises!
Let’s praise Him now, for He is Emmanuel, God with us!
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is!
Ephesians 1:3-6 MSG
He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ,
and takes us to the high places of blessing in him.
Long before he laid down earth’s foundations,
he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love,
to be made whole and holy by his love.
Long, long ago he decided to adopt us
into his family through Jesus Christ.
(What pleasure he took in planning this!)
He wanted us to enter into the celebration
of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
I invite you to read a follow-up post, “Let Your Joy Ring Out!“
Our prayer today adapted from scripture –
Father, praise be to your name, our God, forever and ever; wisdom and power are yours. You change times and seasons; You depose kings and raise others. You give understanding to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. You reveal deep and hidden things; you know what lies in darkness, and light dwells with You. We proclaim your name, our LORD. We praise your greatness! You are our Rock, your works are perfect, and all your ways are just. We praise you, our faithful God who does no wrong! You are upright and just. Blessed be your glorious name; teach us this season to exalt you above all our celebrations – all blessing and praise are yours! Amen.
(Daniel 2:20-22; Deuteronomy 32:3-4; Nehemiah 9:5)
