“Stay awake therefore, for you do not know on what day God is coming.”
~Matthew 24:42

The morning walk came early today. Before sunrise. Three shadows moved along the street. One tall. One shorter. One with four legs. The chill of the morning air, though not as cold as it should be, was still cool enough to begin the waking up process. The final jolt was to come from the coffee we would pick up toward the end of our walk at our local coffee haunt.

Arriving at the coffee shop we found its owner bustling about with intention. One man, in business attire, waited patiently. We watched as barista and customer began to load two large coffee urns and all the needed cream and complements to go out the door. We joked at the sheer volume of caffeine. “It’s going to be some day!” the customer exclaimed. My husband responded quickly, ” Stay awake!”

Stay awake. It is a greeting that is a familiar one in Advent. This past week’s scripture urges for wakefulness, for being on guard for the ways in which God breaks into our days, our lives. Many find these texts confounding, troubling, not very ‘Christmasy’. And in truth they are not. Their intention was to remind people of times that were yet to come and they did it in ways that were filled with language that meant things to the early listeners that gets lost on our 21st century ears.

But staying awake is a good practice for Advent. In the darkness and cold that surrounds we can be inclined to hunker down and keep our gaze very narrow. The journey of Advent urges us to do otherwise. Stay awake! The Holy is going to show up, is right before your eyes. Stay awake! Something amazing is going to happen and it would be a shame if you missed it.

Staying awake can be particularly difficult in the frenzy that can masquerade as holiday spirit. Being present in the moment, taking time to rest and connect with your own breath can seem impossible in the pursuit of what ‘needs’ to be done. But ‘stay awake’ is the message we receive at the beginning of Advent, whether it is convenient or not.

So, how might you stay awake in these days? How might a practice of being watchful for the in-breaking of God be on your Christmas list? How might it be possible to slow down the pace enough to be awake if, when, the Holy comes to call?

Might I suggest getting a nice cup of coffee and sitting down at some point of the day and begin staying awake? Who knows what might happen? There just might be a visitation by an angel, or a wise one, or a wonder beyond imagination.

Amazing things happen when we are awake.