Comfort, Give Comfort

Comfort, Give Comfort  

December 11, 2012

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

By Beth DeCristofaro

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.  (Isaiah 40:1)

And if (the shepherd) finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.  In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost."  (Matthew 18:14)

Piety

Revive me O God to the awareness of your presence when I am most distant.  Grace me O Lord with a newness of love for you and for your sons and daughters.   In your love I find the energy for living life as You would have me do. 

Study

My job, like yours, perhaps, can be intense.  And I get caught up in it.  There is always too much to do.  There are not enough hours in the day.  There are always ways to do the job better.  There are constant demands from management or really heavy traffic in my way.  I find myself either too focused or so distracted I feel as if I lose myself coming and going.  And, I know, that at times my family or my own health suffers a degree of neglect from it.

The words of Isaiah knock me right in my I-don’t-have-time attitude.  I bulldoze through to get done what needs to be done in a job caring for people.  But God – the creator of heaven and earth mind you – says to slow down and give comfort.  God says “Hey, there’s a sheep missing…what will you do about it?”    And my answer of “the sheep got herself lost…” is not acceptable. 

But what is amazing is  that God, I believe, wants me to understand that God is speaking to me after having found me who was lost.  I go astray as I lose myself to hurry, doubt, importance, frustration.  I am found and comforted.  I am called afresh to accept and give comfort.  And God is rejoicing!

Action

Take time this Advent to find comfort for the “lost” parts of you which have strayed.   How can you share the comfort?