Letting go so that we may receive

"Wisdom is vindicated by her works."
--Matthew 11:19

Today's meditation from Jay Cormier's Waiting in Joyful Hope is so good, I have to quote from it at length:

We are not a very patient people.
We can't spare the time to stop and catch our breath.  Quiet unnerves us; silence is a sure sign that something is wrong; reflection and thoughtfulness are luxuries.  We do not live in the moment -- we live in the next moment.
We need to be constantly connected, online, and plugged in.
We are terrified of being bored.
We are in a constant hurry -- and yet we do not get very far.
We struggle to walk between the austere, demanding John at the Jordan and the Jesus who welcomes and forgives all.
Too often we let our fears and doubts, our cynicism and fatalism, affect our decision making.  We are defeated by what is not rather than inspired by what could be....
Advent calls us to patience -- not patience that passively accepts without complaint whatever disappoints us, but patience that is certain in the hope of better things to come...These days of Advent are a microcosm of our lives, revealing to us the preciousness of time and confronting us with our mortality.  May these days teach us to realize the sacred in our lives, to behold God's love in the midst of our family and friends, to embrace the patience of Advent in order to see our lives and world through the eyes of God.

Encouraging words, but hard words for me.  I cling so desperately most days to my to-do list, this never-ending agenda of accomplishment that I have, for the most part, arbitrarily imposed on myself.  And in my desperate rush to check things off, I miss important, sacred moments, I become fragmented and harried, and my overall affect becomes increasingly grim, angry, and afraid.

This is precisely what Emmanuel comes to save us from.  He reorders our priorities.  He gives us an abiding peace in which to rest, and all our efforts may arise from his infinite pool of energy and wisdom.  He gives us eyes to see the sacredness of every unfolding moment. 

But we must first surrender all those things we cling to so that he can give them back to us as sanctified gifts.