Advent Devotional by Gary Smith

Romans 1: 1-7

. . . Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:7b)

Perhaps you are one of those fortunate people who are energized by the flurry of activity, the festivities -- the bustle around the holidays.  Personally, I find the season to be very long.  Not in the sense of baseball or basketball long. But long as in Thanksgiving until today is quite the haul for me.   It just seems to…

OMAHA!  OMAHA!  OMAHA!

A signal!  A clarion call cutting through the fog and blur that accompanies yuletide.  A simple, beautiful call to mark the words closely.  Elegant in its simplicity, powerful in its clarity:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ!

Frank Wilczek describes in “A Beautiful Question”, that the simplest answer is preferable to a more complex one (leveraging Occam’s razor); he goes further to look for answers that are harmonious, balanced, proportional, economical—in his way of thinking-- beautiful.  When testing a theory or solution to a problem, often, multiple solutions/results will present simultaneously.  The way a particular explanation fits within an existing framework gives the solution beauty and elegance, emerging as the best solution.  Like when Paul wrote to the Romans (and us) to remind everyone:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ!

Grace and peace, granted to us by God, through Jesus Christ.  The grace to do or…NOT… to do something.  Permission not to pursue perfection in every detail; leave room to relax and enjoy, room not to overdo.  Peace, that allows one to just be, to take a deep breath and let the (insert your relevant emotional output(s) HERE) go.  Together, they afford us the space in which to abide all things and understand the reason for the season.

HUT! HUT! HUT!

(This is the part where you go and enjoy yourself, family, friends, and experience beauty of your own making)