November 30, 2016

All in

Moving is a hassle. And this move in particular has seemed to be more of a hassle than my previous moves. There was the 3500 mile trip from Oregon to Maryland. There was the three weeks of living out of suitcases in a different place seemingly every other night, hauling stuff to and from the car, and figuring out what we were doing with the cats. And then there was receiving all our goods, finding a place for them, getting the utilities hooked up, new drivers licenses, and I'm still dealing with the MVA to get the cars licensed.

And then there was the office. The moving company delivered the office goods the same day we received our household goods. I spent the next week unofficially in the office figuring out where to put everything, where to hang my pictures, and Joelene helped me hang my cross collection above the fireplace. I did some pondering and decided I needed to move furniture around, which was more work than it originally sounded like. And for the remainder of the month, the office has been one good bookcase shy of being finished.

That bookcase arrived today courtesy of Roger and Ellen Collins.

Since I didn't really have anything on my schedule for Monday, I spent the majority of the day getting the shelves in the right spot, moving books around from one bookcase to another, and reorganizing the space left over. That included getting the last of the books and clutter that have decorated my office floor during November off the floor and up where they belong. It also meant moving the conference table to a more appropriate spot and placing my files in the file cabinets.

The only problem with all of this is that the mess that is my desk and conference table are all that more noticeable. But, if you look past the mess on the desk and the tabletop disaster, you'll notice something important . . . I'm all in!

My office basically looks like I am a permanent fixture at St. John's . . . I'm all in.

I have easy access to both doors . . . I'm all in.

People can stop wondering when I'll get settled . . . I'm all in.

This little adventure in the office reminded me of Advent. We spend Advent preparing for an arrival. Sometimes it's hard to focus on that arrival when there is so much to do around us. Sometimes it's hard to focus on things that need to get done when you'd rather it were all over and here. Advent reminds us that we need to focus on both. We need to focus on preparing for the arrival, but we also can't be so focused on the arrival that we miss what needs to be done in the present.

This Advent may God grant you the grace to see how your preparations are important to the arrival, and the wisdom to focus on those things which are most important.

And if you can do that, if you can be present and patient, if you can anticipate what's coming without anxiety, if you can live with a few areas of disorganization while being mostly ready, then you'll be able to live comfortably in this time of Advent. In other words, you'll be able to look at Advent and say, “I'm all in!”

Amen.