yielding

i'm listening to "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus." the line "come thou long awaited emmanuel" strikes me, as it always does. "free us from our fears and sins." i know i've mentioned before how much this time of year begins to grow in anticipation of a needed Savior. "born to set his people free." perhaps attending a church that follows the church calendar helps promote this. or maybe it's just become a part of me and a part of experiencing the coming and going of days and seasons, marked by significant historical events (events, too, that happen to alter the course of the world...the course of our lives...). anyhow, the sky looks like winter today. the clouds have that "heavy" look; that "waiting" look. and it reminds me of the heightened sense of "heavy" and "waiting" that is building in our hearts as we await the one who can make things whole again--the one who will live in our weak, frightened, sinful souls and make us new.

"A world of God's governance ends our weariness and satisfies our longing. Obedience is the daily task of yielding more regions of our life to God's sovereign purpose. We do not yield easily. But this tradition makes clear that if we do not yield, we shall die." (Brueggemann)