Second Coming – Daily Graces

I have a love/hate relationship with deadlines.

Deadlines are highly motivating. There is a clear project, direction, and end in sight. Deadlines can often spark creativity. Time instantly becomes more precious and there comes a moment when I just have to commit to a plan and go with it so that the deadline can be met.

However, deadlines can also be hugely stressful. Deadlines apply pressure to finish a specific project in a specific window of time, even if there are other things I am more interested in focusing on. They can be unrealistic for the scope of a project, especially if a project has evolved to something larger than originally planned. Deadlines can feel defeating when they arrive before I am really ready to present what I’ve been working on. The project is finished in a rush and hasn’t had time to grow to it’s full potential, if it gets completed at all.

I am a stay at home mom with a love of crafting and gift giving, so my deadlines are mostly self-imposed. The biggest deadline of them all is rapidly drawing upon us – Christmas. There are so many crafters in the world who are right now, in this very moment, scrambling to complete the projects they decided would make excellent Christmas gifts. Maybe they started early, but have so many gifts to make they still aren’t finished yet. Maybe they didn’t realize how long their project would take. Some only just began their crafting in the past few weeks because life and timing got away from them. They woke up on Dec. 1 and realized how many hats they wanted to knit for their co-workers and have been knitting non-stop since then.

I have been in all of these circumstances. There was even one year I completed a pair of knitted socks for a loved one while we were driving to their house. I have made grand plans only to run out of time. This year, thankfully, my gift making required a large loom that will definitely not fit in the car, so I knew that back up plan would not work. I’m so happy to say that as of Dec. 12, my gift crafting is done (well, for now. There’s always the car ride to whip something else up) (Joke’s on me, I wrote that last line before we left. Guess what I’m doing while we drive…).

As it does every Advent, the Church asks us to consider another deadline, a rather final one – the Second Coming of Christ. It actually brings a whole new meaning to this compound word we use so frequently – Dead. Line. A line which beyond is death. Christ’s return to earth is difficult for us to grapple with. It is a deadline, to be sure. Yet Jesus told us that we would not know the timing of it’s arrival. How are we supposed to prepare for a deadline that we don’t know the time or location of?

First and foremost, we listen to and pray with Scripture. We listen to John the Baptist, crying out in the desert for repentance. We listen to Jesus in His parables that teach us to stay awake and alert. We listen to St. Paul when he tells us to pray without ceasing, and to rejoice in the faith and salvation we have from Jesus Christ.

Second, we continue to seek out God in our everyday ordinary existence. This means looking for opportunities to love our neighbor. If we can go to bed every day thinking about the ways we helped others, served others, died to our own selfishness, and extended God’s love to those we met (be they new people or the same people we share each day with), we will be well on our way to heaven.

Just because we don’t know when Jesus will come back does not mean the project of salvation isn’t the highest priority. Of all the things on your to-do list today, of all the projects and plans you would like to accomplish by a certain deadline, where does God’s plan for your sainthood fall?

Everyone knows the feeling. Company is coming for dinner, the bathroom still needs to be cleaned, floors are barely swept and you are frantically changing the baby’s diaper explosion. Ok, so maybe not everyone knows that specific scenario but insert your own life experience and I’m sure you’ll get the picture.

Anyway, that was us to a a certain degree today. It seems to me that I am the most efficient cleaner in those few minutes before the doorbell is expected to ring. Also, I must have a second set of eyes, because I am able to much more clearly see all the things that need to be cleaned or dusted that apparently I was unable to discern just days prior. It’s rather embarrassing really. We are capable of being much more prepared.

Maybe you’re not like me. And if you aren’t like me, I’m rather jealous of you. If you aren’t like me, then you sweep and vacuum your floors often, and if you happen to have a dog that likes to roll around in the dust and dirt then you sweep and vacuum multiple times a day. You also don’t have a 4 year old boy using your bathrooms. And you have some kind of stain and grease resistant kitchen counter tops that don’t require constant scrubbing.

I’m being sarcastic of course. I know that there are people out there who are much better cleaners than I am, and I’m sure somewhere there is someone who is a worse cleaner (maybe). Regardless, I am always amazed at how much cleaning I get done before someone comes over. Amazed and dismayed. If I can clean this well and quickly before someone comes to my house, why can’t I do it all the time?

As I was musing on this while sweeping the floor this afternoon, wishing I was more prepared, I thought about how I’m not the only one with this kind of problem. In fact, there were people with my same or similar issue all the way back to Jesus’ time. Think about it, especially as an issue of preparedness. Jesus tells a parable about 10 virgins waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. 5 were wise and prepared, bringing extra oil with them just in case the bridegroom was late. 5 were not so wise. When the bridegroom did arrive, late, only 5 women had enough oil to light their lamps.

Cultivating a habit of preparation might be in order for our household. Rather than frantically piecing together the house, we are very capable of systematically keeping order, if we make it a priority.

Jesus told His disciples that He would return again, and the early Christians believed that His second coming was imminent. Time has continued to pass and we are still waiting for Jesus to come. The Church hasn’t changed it’s stance on this, we are in fact still waiting for Jesus to return. Even though so much time has passed, our level of preparation should not be any different than those early Christians.

Just like our physical houses need to be kept clean and orderly, so do our spiritual houses, our inner selves. Do we pray regularly? If we do pray, are we taking time to listen to God as well as speak to Him? Do we spend time in quiet reflection, contemplating how we make decisions and discerning the direction of our lives? Do we belong to a worshiping community that helps us stay accountable to the morals and virtues espoused by our faith? Do we share our faith with others, especially our spouse and children?

Personally, I believe that when I have good spiritual habits and practices, it is easier for me to keep other areas of my life, my home included, in good order. What do you think?

Feel free to leave comments and join in the conversation! =)