“Lift up your eyes on high
and see who has created these things.”
Isaiah 40
My To Do list is filled – always. I revise it, add to it and proudly cross things off of it. I have perfected a system that combines my lists on my smart phone and allows me to change priorities if I need to.
But it was only recently, as I prayed with my To Do list, that I realized that if the mythical day came when I finally finished every item on my list … I would think of more things to add. I work in a whirl and do too many things. What suffers, in my quest to be ever more productive, is contemplation. Appreciating. Gratefulness.
Isaiah’s words call us to pay attention. We are all busy and our lives are full. But Isaiah’s beautiful words this Advent, remind us that God really does call each one of us by name. God is there for us in our distress, offering “strength to the fainting” and vigor for the weak.
We are asked to lift up our eyes to pay attention to the world around us – the people around us and the joy of nature. It is in such moments of quietness that we will be restored with hope. But hope can’t arrive if we don’t take the time to open our eyes, listen and ask God for the healing and hope that is offered to us with such love.
In today’s gospel, Jesus invites us to come if we are weary and discouraged. Come if we think we are too busy to stop; if our To Do list seems endless. Today’s readings remind us to slow down and hear Jesus offer us “rest. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Maureen McCann Waldron
The most important part of my life is my family – Jim my husband of 47 years and our two children. Our daughter Katy, a banker here in Omaha, and her husband John, have three wonderful children: Charlotte, Daniel and Elizabeth Grace. Our son Jack and his wife, Ellie, have added to our joy with their sons, Peter and Joseph.
I think family life is an incredible way to find God, even in (or maybe I should say, especially in) the most frustrating or mundane moments.
I am a native of the East Coast after graduating in 1971 from Archbishop John Carroll High School in suburban Philadelphia. I graduated from Creighton University in 1975 with a degree in Journalism and spent most of the next 20 years in corporate public relations in Omaha. I returned to Creighton in the 1990s and completed a master’s degree in Christian Spirituality in 1998.
As our children were growing up, my favorite times were always family dinners at home when the four of us would talk about our days. But now that our kids are gone from home, my husband and I have rediscovered how nice it is to have a quiet dinner together. I also have a special place in my heart for family vacations when the kids were little and four of us were away from home together. It’s a joy to be with my growing family.
Writing a Daily Reflection is always a graced moment, because only with God’s help could I ever write one. I know my own life is hectic, disjointed and imperfect and I know most of us have lives like that. I usually write from that point of view and I always seem to find some sentence, some word in the readings that speaks right to me, in all of my imperfection. I hope that whatever I write is in some way supportive of others.
It’s an incredibly humbling experience to hear from someone who was touched by something I wrote. Whether the note is from someone across campus or across the world, it makes me realize how connected we are all in our longing to grow closer to God.
