Angela's Advent Devotion

Every year Hollywood United Methodist Church curates advent devotions on their website. Today Angela's devotion was featured.

Romans 15:4-13God is the one who makes us patient and cheerful. I pray that he will help you live at peace with each other, as you follow Christ. Then all of you together will praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Honor God by accepting each other, as Christ has accepted you…

Patient and cheerful. Live at peace with each other. These are all things that seem to be escaping me lately. 2019 was a trying year for me, as it was for many of you, I’m sure. The negative thoughts surround us all in the news, in our interactions with others, our work lives and sleepless nights. Hope seems more and more elusive, like it’s just out of reach. We want to embrace it, to live in it, but it’s stays just far enough away that we can’t grasp on with our outstretched hand.

Verse 13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving I was able to volunteer at the weekly homeless ministry and was able to help hand out brand new, in the box, shoes to many of our guests. For that two hours I was filled with hope of what can be. To witness the guests, many of whom have nothing, receive such a gift, with nothing asked of them in return, filled me with hope. The hope that one small gesture can turn someone’s day around, one small act of kindness can be a beacon for someone lost in the dark. Handing out shoes, new or not, is not going to save the world. However, it does remind me that hope is there, in the everyday, turning pain and sadness into patience and cheerfulness.

I am currently working toward a master’s degree in educational administration, in laymen’s terms, I hope to become a principal someday. Throughout the program we learn different theories of leadership and begin to decide what type of leader we want to be. Leadership theories are complex, and the list of attributes to be an effective leader is long. I have been in education for many years, but I have been a person a lot longer than that and what I have learned is that a spoken word or act of kindness is more important than any other leadership attribute. Treating every person you come into contact with as a human being, listening without judgement, and showing compassion are the hope I see in the leaders I wish to emulate.

I will not be patient and cheerful every day, I can’t promise to live in peace with everyone. But I can promise to be kind and show compassion. To bring hope to those that I meet. Anne Lamott reminds us that, “Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.”

As we travel through this advent season, look for the outstretched hands grasping for hope and know that your kindness and compassion can be the hope that others can cling to.