From my book Touching the Seasons, a discarded Advent calendar leads on to reflections concerning trust in God’s purpose.
It lay discarded,
the last window having been opened days since,
and somehow it summed up the mood of anticlimax –
Christmas, after weeks of looking forward,
over and done with for another year.
Though I speak of your coming again, Lord,
your return to establish your kingdom,
it’s hard to anticipate it meaningfully,
and part of me doesn’t want to,
for you’ve given so much here and now that’s good,
and it would seem wrong to overlook this life
through dwelling on the next.
Yet don’t let me lose altogether my sense of expectation;
that conviction that one day your will shall be done –
sorrow overcome,
evils righted,
love triumphant,
death itself destroyed.
Help me to celebrate today in the light of your tomorrow.
Amen.