Creation Receives

“You visit the earth and water it abundantly,

enriching it greatly.

God’s stream is filled with water,

for you prepare the earth in this way,

providing people with grain.

You soften it with showers and bless its growth,

soaking its furrows and leveling its ridges.”  —Psalm 65:9-10 (CSB)

Creation waits; creation trusts.

It trusts in God’s faithful provision and care, and waits for the Lord to bring it what it needs. Even in its broken and scarred state, creation opens itself up to receive what God has ordained to lay down upon it. At times, gentle mist and nourishing bounty; at other times, scorching wind and crippling lack. Yet it waits faithfully, in anticipation, of what goodness is to come.

In these quiet, dark days of Advent, in the face of brokenness and need, we wait for God’s goodness to fall down upon us. We long for our savior, for Jesus to return. For God to plant a healing seed of redemption and restoration, for that seed to germinate and grow and make all things new. For Emmanuel, God with Us, Christ with us. But, in that longing, God invites us to receive, not only in the future, but now, just as creation receives. He softens his creation—us—abundantly showering it with grace and mercy. He nourishes us and blesses our growth, soaking us with his everlasting love.

This Advent, are you in a receiving posture? How are you opening your hands to say yes to the good gifts with which God is saturating you? How might you be resisting the particularity of his gifts? The Lord cares perfectly for you; be watchful and wait and you will see it.

“For just as rain and snow fall from heaven
and do not return there
without saturating the earth
and making it germinate and sprout,
and providing seed to sow
and food to eat,

so my word that comes from my mouth
will not return to me empty,
but it will accomplish what I please
and will prosper in what I send it to do.” —Isaiah 55:10-11 (CSB)

Photo: Hingham, MA, 2024.