Where have you been surprised to find God?
Through Advent, this season of preparing for the coming of God into the world, we hear over and over about the surprising places where God shows up, and the surprising ways God is active and the surprising people chooses to use.
The stories of Advent are filled with surprises. God does not choose the route or the resources we would imagine. God uses ordinary, outlandish, powerless, or rejected people and places. The same is true in our lives, too. Though God is certainly evident in our moments of success and joy, God is sometimes most powerfully seen (and experienced) in times of sorrow, pain, and disaster.
As you make your way through these last days of the semester and finals week, remember that God is often in the surprises that unsettle us, show us on a new direction, give us another perspective, or lift our sagging spirits.
Prayer
You surprise me, God.
I didn’t expect that at all.
You bring love and hope and new life into moments of despair.
You bring possibility and potential into places that seem desolate.
You bring light into the dark corners of our world, and of my soul.
Help me to see you in places, events, and people where I don’t expect you.
Help me to remember that you are alive and active in the world today.
Help me to know that you are alive and active in my life right now.
Bring bits of Advent into my busy, over-filled days.
Light my struggles with your love.
Show me that you are in the most surprising places.
Amen.