Advent Devotional - 14th Day

Saturday, December 10th, 2011

Written by: Andee Myatt

Readings: 1 Samuel 3:1-21, 7:1 - 8:22, 9:15 - 10:9

Our family, biological and chosen, influence who we are, how we think, what we feel. It is likely that we spend the most amount of time with extended family when we “go home” for the holidays. And that is when the drama begins.

Norman Rockwell did not paint our family gatherings. They are expensive, stressful, and sometimes downright painful. We eat dry turkey, strive to keep up with the favorite cousin and pretend that everything is perfect, just perfect. We plaster a smile on our face, try to pretend we did not have a fight in the car on the way over, and hope no one notices that we wore the same holiday sweater last year and it had to have shrunk in the wash because you could not have possibly gained that much weight in one year. Right?

When we are stressed, over tired, and over fed, when we are worried about money, and running through the ever growing list of things to do, we feel alone. We feel isolated. We don’t feel like God is near, because God has to have more important things to do than help us go to sleep and stop worrying about the gifts yet to be wrapped. And yet, God is, “calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”, And Samuel said, “Speak for your servant hears.”

My guess is we don’t hear God above the din, and wouldn’t ask him to speak even if we did, because the idea of one more thing to do is almost terrifying. Samuel, above all the family drama, the uncertainty of the time, asks God to speak. Through Samuel’s life he serves the Lord, even when unpopular, and asks God’s people to follow God’s law, without worrying about what their favorite cousin is doing.
And so I pray, “Dear God, you call to us like a parent to a child. Speak to me and help me to hear. Amen.”

Family Moments:
Saturday: Week 2, Samuel ,The Beginning of the Kingdom, Crown: For many years Samuel had been a Judge over the people of Israel. As he became too old, his sons became the new Judges. But the people were not happy with Samuel’s sons – they wanted a King. Until that time, there had not been a King because God was the King of their lives. What are some things that replace God as the King (priority) of our lives? Look through a magazine or newspaper and cut out images and/or words of things that sometimes take priority over God. Offer those things to God with a prayer of forgiveness. Color the ornament and add it to your Jesse Tree.