December 19 Jesus is Flower of Jesse: Isaiah 11:1-3 Symbols: flower, plant with flower

But a shoot will sprout out of the stump of Jesse. Growing up, I heard so much about how Jesus' life was foretold. I heard in church that He came to fulfill the prophesies of old. However, growing up Catholic, our primary exposure to the bible happened at Mass. The bible was that big dusty thing we had up in the closet that looked to be about 150 years old with lots of thees and thous in it. Not something I was ever going to read. My other exposure to the bible came from my baptist friend's parents and their friends. Often when they found out I was Catholic, they'd show me their bibles with all the highlights and notes. I was a bit appalled. I thought it was a sin to write in the bible. I went to Catholic school and am a tried and true cradle Catholic. And I never read the entire bible until last year. To my credit, I did actually try reading Isaiah and still never really got the prophesy about Jesus.  I read the part about the suffering servant, but it just didn't click with me until much later. Now, today's passage is one of those times when God kind of whacks me in the head and says, "Do you get it now?"

How much clearer could it be? These passages describe Jesus to the "T" .  The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. Check. A spirit of wisdom and understanding. Check. A spirit of counsel and strength. Check. And it keeps going. My favorite part of this reading today though is the last sentence in verse 3. Not by appearance shall he judge nor by hearsay shall he decide. Now THAT's the Jesus I'm talking about. He doesn't judge the book by its cover. He doesn't rely on someone else's opinion. He forms His own opinions based on truth.

And oh, how hard that is for us to follow. We can sanctimoniously say that we are non-judgmental, but I'll betcha we aren't. I'll bet most of us form opinions pretty darn quickly just by what we see or hear. Don't believe me? What do you think of when you hear the name Miley Cirus? Britney Spears? Lindsay Lohan? Pope Francis? Nelson Mandela? Barack Obama? Ronald Reagan? Abraham Lincoln? Did you think what I thought? Probably pretty close on most of them (maybe not the political figures - we may differ on those, but...)Now raise your hand if you've ever met any of those people above. My hand is not raised. We listen to what others tell us about people. We assume we know a lot about them because of their PR. Being a PR professional, I know that some images are earned and some are created. And some are created to hide the ones that are earned. We love scandal and we love selflessness. But do we really know anything about those we have opinions about?

My prayer today is to try not to listen to what others say about people, but observe on my own. I don't want to judge others. Jesus never judged others unfairly. He accepted them warts and all. He loved them even if they were perceived as unlovable. He shunned those who were popular or self-important. He just wanted people to love Him. He wanted people to live in His kingdom. He wants everyone - ugly, pretty, fat, skinny, athiest, believer, sinner, saint. He wants us all. My prayer is to open my heart and accept everyone and remember that everyone is lovable in the eyes of God and that my delight is in the fear of the Lord. (Fear as in Awe!)

December 11 Jesse: 1 Sam. 16:1-13

Jesse - the one from whom all of this stems is today's symbol. But the passages recommended don't talk much about Jesse. This is the story where Samuel goes to Jesse's house to anoint God's chosen one - and my favorite Old Testament person - David. Jesse has a bunch of sons and when he finds out that Samuel is there to anoint one of his sons, he parades them out - one by one - each one is rejected. He probably had some impressive sons - Samuel was sure the first one was the chosen one because of his stately stature. God said, "No, I'm not looking for stately stature."

I struggled quite a bit with my reflections today. The passage doesn't talk much about the man, Jesse, but more about his sons. I tried to think of how Jesse may have felt when Samuel kept dismissing his sons. The sons Jesse thought were worthy of anointing. Jesse probably completely dismissed David. He was little. God surely wasn't going to choose him, was he? Samuel knew though - right away.

How does this relate to my life? That's a little tougher. I had a hard time understanding what today's message was, then it hit me. Don't judge by what you see. David was the unlikely King. I wonder how many things I've dismissed before really understanding what's at stake. How many people have I overlooked without realizing how important they are to my life and to the world in general. Last week, Nelson Mandela died. He was just a poor black man in South Africa and he changed the world. Pope Francis - a humble cardinal from Argentina - is changing hearts all over the world. Mother Theresa - a woman who turned away from all her worldly comforts to dedicate her entire life to the poor and sick of India - changed minds and hearts. It seems like God has a trend of choosing humble little people to change the world. The ultimate humble little person was Jesus, of course, but in today's world, we keep searching for big "saviors" and leaders who look the look and walk the walk. If only we could find one that leads with convictions of heart rather than power, who walks the talk.

Jesse overlooked his humble little person. That humble little person became greater than I'll bet Jesse ever thought he would. Isaiah 11:1-3 tells us: "And there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear" 

My prayer for today is that God will open my eyes and heart to see through the superficial stuff and focus on the important stuff. Recognize the wonders and ignore the nonsense. Enjoy the moment and not worry about the future. See the King, not just the little seemingly insignificant boy.