Full Plates and Small Shifts
I can’t believe it. Thanksgiving is almost here, and Advent is just around the corner. Stores are already making the shifts. I don’t know about you, but my calendar and to-do list feel a bit overloaded already. My plate feels pretty full right now. Church things, family things, school events, long-term projects, and a few “What was I thinking when I said yes to that?” commitments.
Maybe you can relate.
We just wrapped up our CounterCulture sermon series, and I keep thinking about what it means to get my full plate aligned with Jesus, not just my Sunday mornings. I don’t need a new plate or a brand-new life. I need the one I already have to line up more closely with his way of living and loving.
My default approach, in years past during this season, has been to add some things on top of everything else: one more devotion, one more act of service, one more good thing I feel like I should be doing.
As, I said on Sunday, none of those are bad. But if we’re not careful, even good practices can start to feel like pressure. It’s a strange thing to feel stressed by the very things that are supposed to help us meet God.
Lately I’ve been wondering how to take the invitation I shared last Sunday into practice. Not by adding more this Advent season, but by making small shifts in what’s already there.
Instead of squeezing in one more activity, what if we looked at our regular routines? Our daily readings, commute, or walks or runs, the time in the kitchen, or even the wait in the car line (some of you know what I am talking about).
What if we asked, “How could this time or space be aligned with Jesus and help me be more awake to him?”
Maybe the drive to work becomes a simple breath prayer instead of background noise or maybe listening to advent study on Audiable, or asking our children where they experienced, hope, peace, joy, or love today.
Maybe dinner includes one quick question: “Where did you notice kindness or grace today? Or lighting an advent candle at dinner or breakfast, acknowledging our need for hope, peace, joy, and love.
Maybe as you are already shopping or making your shopping list consider one thing you might be able to share with someone else in need?
Maybe before bed you take sixty seconds to name one place you saw God’s goodness, even on a hard day.
Nothing dramatic. No gold-star spirituality. Just small, steady shifts.
Advent, begins in two weeks (Nov. 30). Advent is a season of anticipation, a season of longing for hope, peace, joy, and love. It reminds us that God steps into ordinary days and crowded lives.
The holidays will bring joy for many, and also grief, stress, and complicated family dynamics for others. There will be turkeys and travel plans, school programs and work parties, shopping lists and quiet moments of missing people we love. In the middle of all of that, we have a chance to decide who we want to be and how we want to show up.
So here’s a simple question for the next 10 days:
What is one small shift I can make with my already-full plate that would open a little more room for Jesus?
Not ten shifts. Just one.
Maybe it’s listening more carefully, saying one less hurried yes, or pausing in the middle of your day to pray, “Lord, help me line up my life with yours.”
Remember, You don’t have to have it all together for God to meet you. Jesus comes to us right in the middle of crowded calendars and messy rooms and tired hearts.
I’m working on these small shifts too. Let’s walk into Advent together, full plates and all, turning even a little toward the One who has already turned toward us in love.
With Gratitude,
Rev. Rodney Whitfield
Senior Pastor
Aldersgate UMC