Week of Joy, Day 4

On Sunday we lit the third candle of the Advent Wreath. This candle represents joy.

We light this candle for joy.

Below is a reflection of Isaiah 35:8-10. Serving as a reminder that "even fools won't get lost" during this season of Advent.

Isaiah 35:8-10

A highway will be there.  It will be called The Holy Way.  The unclean won’t travel on it, but it will be for those walking on that way.  Even fools won’t get lost on it; no lion will be there, and no predator will go up on it.

None of these will be there; only the redeemed will walk on it.  The Lord’s ransomed ones will return and enter Zion with singing, with everlasting joy upon their heads.

Happiness and joy will overwhelm them; grief and groaning will flee away.

What a relief to know that even fools like me stand a chance when travelling the holy way of God —“even fools won’t get lost on it.”

I know what it feels like to be lost on the way. One time a friend and I took a somewhat impromptu back-country hike along a footpath to the Rainbow Bridge National Monument near Lake Powell in what felt like no-man’s-land between Utah, Arizona, and the Navajo Nation. We got a late start, so most of the hike was in the dark of night, illuminated only by our headlamps and a mercifully full moon.

At one point we missed a critical turn on the trail and were lost in the dark. It was a frightening feeling to be lost in the middle of nowhere with no good sense of where to go.

Finally, we happened upon a small wooden sign that pointed us in the right direction. Somehow we had missed it the first, second, and probably third time that we passed it. But it made all the difference. We got back on the trail and made it, at long last, to our destination at Rainbow Bridge, a marvelous sight made even more special by the ordeal of our midnight journey. It was a foolish trip, but we made it anyway.

Throughout the ordeals of life’s journey, God provides a variety of signs that point us in the right direction. During this season of Advent we are especially mindful of God’s revelation in Christ. And like the light of our headlamps piercing the darkness of the trail, God’s grace helps fools like us to see what we might otherwise miss.


*This reflection was written by the Rev. John Vest. It was originally posted on the website http://advent2013communitydevotional.wordpress.com/