Daily Lesson for December 15, 2015

Today's Daily a lesson comes from Matthew chapter 24 verses 36 through 44:

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

We are full now into the midst of the Season of Advent.  The word "Advent" comes from the Latin word adventus, which means "coming".  So Advent means "coming".

But we know what it really means is waiting.

And I hate waiting -- which makes Advent a very difficult time because 'tis the season for waiting. I am waiting longer for a haircut, for a checkout aisle, for a parking spot, and for a table. I'm waiting three-fold longer for the light by my house because I live near that horrid den of iniquity known simply as the Mall.

Now I'm there -- in a store right by there anyways.  And I'm waiting. And I'm tired of waiting. And now I'm even mad about waiting.  And standing in the checkout aisle, I am wondering why in the world I didn't do my Christmas shopping earlier, or online, or even better -- earlier online.  I'm mad about that also; which means I'm mad at myself. But I'm not really willing to accept being mad at myself so instead I'm mad at the man at the register for being so friendly with the customers and so slow in checking them out. This just isn't the time and place to be so full of Christmas cheer.

And in my seething, when I'm finally second in line, I look up and I see something right in front of me that I almost missed.  A child in the shopping basket, with his mother counting the money in her wallet and then politely asking the friendly checkout man to please remove one of the items from the purchase because she's a little short.

A child and his mother, a little short on cash, and a little embarrassed, in front of me while I'm waiting in the checkout line at the store just by the Mall.

And the Son of Man and the chance to serve Him come at a time and in a place when we least expect.