Thought for the Day - Tuesday 24 November

Thought for the Day – Tuesday 24th November ‘Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19: 26) How are you with surprises? Do you revel in them? Do you find them daunting? Would you rather life just rolled along as it was and you knew there would never be any great surprises coming your way? Of course, life has many ways of surprising us day in and day out – ways of catching us out – things occurring when we least expect them – unexpected happenings leading us off in different directions and some of the surprises we encounter can be a great blessing to us – like an unexpected phone call I received this morning which brought me great joy – while others might bring us problems instead. Well, as they say, life is never dull and I suspect it would be if we always knew what was going to happen! We are coming towards the season of Advent and we know the end of the story and so it should be of no surprise to us but no matter how many times I read or tell the story to others it never ceases to amaze me that God could take us by surprise as he did when he came into the world in the person of Jesus. During Advent we are called to prepare ourselves once more for this great surprise, to prepare our hearts and minds and souls. I suppose, strictly speaking, we can never truly be prepared for the unexpected but we can always be prepared for God to speak to us in new ways and work through us in new ways - as he did long ago to the people of Israel when he first came to the world as a tiny baby. Advent gives us time to prepare, time to live each day with a sense of expectation, time to recognise that God is still at work in the world in a whole host of ways, time to be surprised by our surprising God. Our Advent season may be very different this year but let that not prevent us saying ‘Roll on Advent’! Prayer Lord of surprises, help us to throw off the distractions, allow the chaos to settle, watch for the signs and listen to the messengers. As we prepare this week for the coming of the Advent Season, help us to stand on our tiptoes, shout aloud and sing, for you are waiting to surprise us once more and something new is preparing to emerge, something new is preparing to be rebirthed. May we be ready to be surprised! In Jesus, name we pray. Amen.