Wait three breaths

Since Advent is the season of waiting, I’ve been trying something new. I don’t always succeed, but I think I’m getting a C+ on the effort, which is pretty good for me.

I’m trying to WAIT - just a few breaths - before blurting out certain things.

Now, I’m not a big blurter. I don’t blurt that much. But when I do, oh man. I can ruin a nice dinner in the time it takes to utter a few words. I can make myself and others (sometimes at the same time) look and feel like an utter buffoon. My blurted weaponized words can cut like a rusty prison shank.

Sometimes it isn’t even mean. Sometimes, the thing I blurt is the thing that I say to one-up someone else because I feel insecure. Or I make a joke at someone’s expense to look better because (again) I feel insecure.

Now, God can work with this. Somehow, God has plastered over many a wall I’ve knocked holes in.

But this Advent, I’m trying to learn my lesson. To maybe not make God have to work so hard. And during those three breaths when I’m WAITING to say the thing, a wisdom deeper than mine seems to take my toxic words away. I feel such relief after not saying the thing. Like I dodged a bullet. It makes me wonder, why would I even want to say that thing anyway?! (God, help us.)

Let God take those words away and discard them in the divine waste bucket of empty words. And then (it’s amazing how this works) God’s love shows up in the absence of those words. God speaks love through our silence.

Three breaths… Just wait.

Happy Advent.

In Joy,
Jonas+