Slideshow image

(An Advent Allegory, 2nd in a 5-part series)


Despite my efforts, a certain craving remains. A vague hunger willfully tugs at me. Everywhere, glimpses of fulfillment come and go, evading my grasp. And then something happens quite spontaneously. Just after sunset as Advent rises, I am called to Nora, S.D.


So, I pile into the car, traverse back roads, which cut deeply into dark rolling fields where “furrows lie open,” northeast of Spink, south of Beresford, some 50 miles from home.


In the distance, farmhouse lights wink and nod approvingly of this, my first, Yuletide pilgrimage.
Suddenly it appears, right before a three-way stop, under a canvas of stars a sign: “NORA Population 3.”
To the north, pitch blackness. South, a sea of vehicles forms a makeshift parking lot, wrapping around an old storefront. Warm light – a smooth soft grace – oozes from each window.


(Meet me here tomorrow, Dec. 2, for the 3rd installment of my story. Until then, what creative task is God working in your life?)


PHOTO CAPTION: "As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child." The Message, Luke 2:15-18