Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. — Luke 3: 5-6
Every valley shall be filled:
may our low places, our wrong doings of the past, be rectified.
The crooked shall be made straight:
the evil, the injustice that we see or have done be realized and changed.
The rough ways made smooth:
the difficult times, the hurts in our lives be relieved,
and in the birth of Christ to come,
we will learn the strength and the hope that is God.
God, [in this Advent season],
guide me to serve you in filling the low valleys,
the hurts that I have caused others, with love.
Help me to straighten the crooked paths
by shining a light on injustice.
Give me the strength and faith to know
that there will always be hope.
Amen
Hope is a state of mind. It is a dimension of the soul. It is an orientation of the spirit and the heart. It transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons. It is an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. It is the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. It gives us the strength to live and continually to try new things, even in conditions that sometimes seem without hope.
Vaclav Havel, poet
Kay Lowe-Wendling is a member of Cairn Christian Church, Lafayette, Colorado USA
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- by Thandiwe Dale-Ferguson
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- by Thandiwe Dale-Ferguson
