If a Tree Falls ...

You're most likely familiar with the old question, "If a tree falls in the woods and nobody's there to hear it, does it make a noise?"

Well, today's version, by way of the parsonage, is, "If a Christmas tree falls in the living room and nobody's there to hear it, does it make a noise?"  The answer, of course, is: "Does it really matter?  We still had to deal with the situation."

The timing was exquisite: I had a 7:30 meeting.  I'd made sure last night that everything was ready for the morning.  All was going according to plan and we were all on schedule to leave the house and embark on our respective days.  Then I went to water the tree and discovered it had other ideas.

No relaxed progress towards the door.  No-sir-ee.  Instead, we had to right the tree, clean up the water, deal with the mess, and do it quickly.  This we did.  And as harried as we may have felt, we did so calmly and with perspective.  I can't help but think that this was in part because of extra helping of grace this morning.  In the midst of the hustle, the chaos, the unanticipated stress, God's calming presence helped us on our way.

During Advent, despite the purpose of the season, there's more than enough hustle, chaos, and unanticipated stress to go around.  Fortunately, there's even more grace on hand.

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