Justice/Awake

Liam, yesterday, Jason and I went for a fun run and so enjoyed a little time to be in the snow. I took this picture of the bridge that your mom and I love on 20th as it really looked like a winter wonderland yesterday:

I had a longer run for today (Saturday) so I decided to carry two words - justice (Advent word for December 9th) and awake (Advent word for December 10th) with me and see what surfaced in my mind as I ran with them.  I had an errand to do in Capital Hill so ran the first four miles mulling over the word "justice" and then spent the 4 miles home with the word "awake."  

The verse that came to mind was the verse that is an inspiration for your brother's name. 

 "What does the Lord require of you? 

But to act justly

 and to love mercy 

and to walk humbly 

with your God."  

Micah 6:8

I love the sequence there that the Lord wants us to be passionate about justice and then he calls for us to love mercy (which sometimes seems to be contrary to justice, but here God is showing us that they best work in sync) and then he reminds us of how important it is to walk with humility in our relationships with others and with God. 

I know you have a passion in you, Liam and I was praying that God would continue to spark that and give you an advocate's heart for justice.  I also prayed that he would continue to give you a heart of mercy. I've seen it clearly in your life when you are looking out for others and when you try to be the peacemaker at date night when a conflict arises helping others try to find a win-win solution.  

And then there's the humility that God desires to see in our hearts- oh that we all would not think less of ourselves but think of ourselves less.  

The few miles home were ones when I carried the word "awake".   I thought of the Mumford and Sons song "Awake my Soul" which is super cool but also the word "alert" came to mind. We can be awake but not alert, and if I had to choose one or the other, I'd choose "alert".  

In the Mumford and Sons song, one of my favorite lines is 

"And where you invest your love, you invest your life"

So, I seemed to just sit with that and consider how we all need to be asking God to open our eyes and our ears so that we won't miss what He has for us today. 

May you live with expectancy alert to God's surprises.