The very spot in the vastness of all the universe, where God came to be born as the Christ Child, was on planet earth, in a small town called Bethlehem, in a stable with animals, on a bed of hay called a manger. Wow!

(painting from “The Stable Where Jesus Was Born”, artist Susan Gaber).

 

( from “The Very First Christmas” artist Francisco Ordaz)

Today we enter the final week of our Advent Journey.  I would encourage us to watch, anticipate, become aware as we are awakened to the presence of God in ordinary places.  I was just reading this poem by Roberta Porter…

The poem nudged me to again think of the ordinary place in which the Christ Child was born.  I remembered the grocery store just yesterday…. As I was contemplating the homemade soups in the deli section, a woman pushing her cart stops and says, “Try this one!  It’s delicious!”  She goes on to tell me about her friend whose son just committed suicide, “I took her this soup, along with this bread.” (She holds up the bread in her cart).  “I was thinking she could just eat this wherever, even in her bedroom, with a glass of wine…or the whole bottle.” (She holds up the bottle of wine in her grocery cart).  She went on and on about how much her friend enjoyed the soup.  I began to realize that in this moment, it really had little to do with the soup.  It was about this woman’s need to tell me about her friend.  It made me think about the extreme sorrows that exist in our world.  Ah…God present in an ordinary place.

On a different aisle in the grocery that day, an older gentleman in a motorized wheelchair began to tell me about how frustrated he was….”I can’t find anything!  I have been shopping here for over 10 years.  Now they have changed everything, and I can’t find anything!”  (He was looking for the BBQ sauce).  He is right.  It has all changed, and it is very confusing!  I began to realize that his conversation wasn’t so much about the BBQ sauce as it was about having someone hear and understand.  Change can be so difficult…and this is only the grocery aisle!  What about the world outside these doors?!!  Ah, God is present again in this ordinary place.

One more thing….I found this wonderful creamy rich ice cream which I am having right now!

They certainly were correct to title it “White Chocolate Raspberry YUM! “.  As much as I enjoy this ice cream, perhaps the manger is calling me to get on my knees and watch for God in the places of pain and struggle, the places beyond the YUM!

nk

Pondering…

Where have you experienced God’s presence lately in an ordinary place?