Advent Day 11

He was a young man, caught in the web of drug addiction. She was the pharmacist who with genuine love and care dispensed the daily dose of Methadone to people yearning to break free from the effects of drugs. He shared with her his desire to re-order his life, to become free of the paralysing effects of addiction. His spoke of his hope for a new beginning. Suddenly he stopped coming. She wondered about him. Where was he? She watched and waited but he never returned.

Years passed. One day her son invited a friend home for an evening meal. When she opened the door, standing before her was the young man of earlier years. Healthy and well, he now worked as a social worker with others caught in the grip of addiction. He shared how her words, like an arrow, had struck his heart, opening him to reform, freedom and hope.

John the Baptist, the arrow in God’s quiver, waited in the wilderness. At the appointed time he was sprung forth from God’s bow. John pointed a people who lived in dread and uncertainty to a greater power and a greater love revealed in the person of Jesus.

Can you find yourself among the many people who went out to meet and welcome John’s message? What might John say to you?

In what way this week might you become the arrow in God’s hand, the messenger calling people to hope and love and to the reform of social injustices?

Taken from the marvellous and inspiring Sacred Space site