RBWords

     The image of taking someone by the hand to help them is familiar to us.  We may remember our parents taking us by the hand to help us get across the street or through a big crowd.  Those of us who have had surgery and are being helped to get out of bed and take our first steps can relate to the image as well as those who are in rehabilitation and learning to walk in a new and different way.  I think of the students I know who are studying Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy or Kinesiology (study of human movement) and envision them taking someone by the hand to help them move.  It is a reassuring touch at a delicate and difficult time.

     Isaiah's vision is one that is designed to encourage exiles who may be discouraged by the though that they may never return to their homeland.  Just as one of those care-givers I mentioned above uses the reassuring touch and encouraging words to coax a patient into making those first challenging moves, God will do the same for us if we persevere.  The Advent days leading up to the celebration of Jesus' birth can be difficult for those who have experienced significant recent loss:  loss of job, loss of loved one, loss of health.  It can be hard to see the way forward through the pain and confusion.  The reassuring hand of God, like that of the care-giver, is there for us, leading us to Bethlehem and beyond.  AMEN