Put Your Feet in the Stream for a Few Moments

First Week of Advent - Saturday

Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26 / Psalm 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 / Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

Put Your Feet in the Stream for a Few Moments

I remember a summer afternoon with a friend in a park with a stream trickling over rocks shaded by trees. He was home from college and we got together to catch up and pass the time. At the stream Sean removed his shoes — he wasn’t wearing any socks — and enjoyed resting his feet in the water while he sat on a rock.

I joined in, removing my shoes — and socks — feeling the cool water washing over my feet. It seemed so foreign to me. I am embarrassed to say that I didn’t know how to just relax and pass the time, or, better, let the time pass. Mind you — I wasn’t always busy, just rarely relaxed. I was used to being occupied with the television, radio, a game or a task, or even just procrastinating or day dreaming while the time passed. 

Maybe that’s why I struggle with prayer. Jesus is like Sean. He leads us to “streams of running water.” He sits and lets his feet be touched by the water. He comes to us, or draws us to himself, sometimes without anything in particular to say, but just to talk and pass the time.

As Sean and I put our shoes back on a couple hours later, I remember noticing how restless I felt during that time, how difficult it was for me to just relax and spend time with a friend – time without an agenda, task or focus. I felt I should be doing something.

How young we learn the lesson entitled “Be Useful.” How slowly we learn to relax and enjoy just being.

Jesus was with Sean and me that day. I think he left that stream, “moved with pity for” me that I struggled to enjoy a lazy summer afternoon with a friend, and that I so often fail to enjoy him in that same way – I always seem to have a need to ask about, an intention to mention when I pray.  Maybe sometimes God just wants us to put our feet in the “streams of running water” with him and catch up. That might be enough at times to heal more than one of our afflictions.

·         Reflect on the gospel passage today: Imagine Jesus catching sight of you in the crowd around him. His reaction: his heart is moved with pity for you. Picture as many details as you can. Where does it happen? What is the expression on his face? How does he move through the crowd to get to you? And when he gets to you, what does he do or say?

·         What is it like to know that Jesus’ heart is moved with pity for you?