Advent 6

The First Saturday of Advent Saturday, December 6, 2008

Isaiah 4:2-6

On that day the plant that the LORD has grown shall become glorious in its beauty… 

I was in room 542 of the Rutland hospital on an August Thursday, talking to an elderly Episcopalian man from out of town, recovering from a broken hip.  He told me, when I asked if he lived alone, that no, he had a wife and she was in about the same shape as he, on oxygen, weak.  I was about to ask him if he would like communion when his eyes suddenly focused beyond me, and his face lit up.  I turned to see a woman about my age enter.  It was his daughter, he explained, his eyes never leaving her face.  I introduced myself, said that I was a hospital visitor from Trinity Church; then I quietly slipped out.  They didn’t miss me.  They were delighting in each other. 

A year after my husband Jack died, I attended a wedding with my older son.  I desperately missed my husband’s constant love, his smile whenever he saw me.  Weddings made me sad, lonely; but when we got to the wedding reception, I saw Harry, Jack’s best friend, a rancher whose wife was my best friend, carrying a huge pot of beans to the kitchen in the back of the pavilion. I had liked Harry from the first year we had lived in Comfort, Texas, and he had liked me.  He and his wife had tenderly watched over me in the dark first months of my sadness.  “Hello, Harry,” I called out, waving.  His eyes found me, and his face lit up.   

The affection in Harry’s face lit up my heart, reminding me of Jack’s love. 

A face lit up is a sign of a plant that the Lord has grown, a plant of great beauty to the beholder.  Sometimes, if we’re lucky, a human face will light up when we come into view; but always the Father’s face lights up.  Every time you enter His presence, God’s face lights up. 

You are the plant Yahweh has grown, and He delights in your beauty.  Why not spend time with Him every day, beginning this Advent.