Listen

The people were filled with expectation, and everyone wondered whether John might be the Christ. John replied to them all, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is more powerful than me is coming. I’m not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. The shovel he uses to sift the wheat from the husks is in his hands. He will clean out his threshing area and bring the wheat into his barn. But he will burn the husks with a fire that can’t be put out.” With many other words John appealed to them, proclaiming good news to the people.

Luke 3:15-18

Think

What are you waiting for? Seems we are always waiting for something… waiting for the light to turn green, waiting for a paycheck or a message to be returned, waiting for an answer to a request, waiting for a special day to arrive.

The gospel tells us that the people were filled with expectation. Now, expectation is different from just waiting. It is waiting with a sense of hope and excitement. So don’t just wait – dare to expect. Expect that the One who knows your deepest needs is also the One who loves you the most.

Remember that God is the One who sent Christ to fill the expectations of all those who didn’t even know what they were waiting for! But God knows what you need. So expect something good… perhaps not easy, but absolutely good.

Jon Brown

Pray

God, help me not just to wait but also to expect with hope the ways in which I will encounter you and expressions of your love today.

Open my heart to receive your love.

Amen.

Go

“God is closer to me than I am to myself.” (St. Augustine in Confessions)

Rest for a moment, as it were, in the curve of God’s smile.

Rise up, renewed by God’s love.