About 30 years ago, Stephen Covey wrote 7 Habits of Effective People.  I read it, although I remain highly ineffective.  One of the 7 habits is: “begin with the end in mind.”  That phrase has been my Advent mantra as I have been preparing for our celebration of Advent and Christmas.

You might think that as I “begin with the end in mind,” I am trying to make all our Advent services culminate meaningfully on Christmas Eve.  Don’t you wish!  Although that would be a good application of the principle, it is not why it has been on my mind.

Covey asks us to imagine a workgroup making a road through a dense jungle.  Good management, he asserts, is concerned with ‘making good time.’  The manager is interested in measuring how many feet the crew can clear and make suitable for traffic per day.  The leader, on the other hand, periodically climbs a high tree to make sure their road is heading in the right direction.

Advent is a time for tree climbing. 

Advent invites us to look at two points in time that share one point on the horizon.  One point in time is the Nativity of our Lord.  As we journey through Advent, we need to have our eyes open to that old story and to have our hearts open to the Christ who is born in and among us, who comes humbly and quietly, unnoticed by the world.  The other point in time is the end of time, God’s “plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth.” (Ephesians 1:10)

At Bethlehem and at the conclusion of history, the point on the horizon that shows the way is Christ.  When we seek direction for our lives, we look to him who revealed God’s will and way in human form, and who will unite all things in his reign of love at the end of time.

Which way should we go?  Where compassion leads.  In the way of forgiveness.  Wherever we can meet the needs of the forgotten, the poor, the sick, the outcast. 

Sometimes it seems that the pursuit of compassion and justice is a fool’s errand, that it would be more sensible to seek the path of least resistance or the way that brings the most money or fame or pleasure.  But when you climb the tree of Advent and look to the Savior who has come to us and is coming to us again, there is renewed purpose and hope to sustain us as we walk in his way.

Prayer:  When I pray for you to be born in me, I mean let me give birth to forgiveness and compassion, let me be fruitful in the ways you would make flourish.  Amen.