Now With Extended Hours

As I drive back and forth from home to the church I serve I pass by another church which has, on its lawn, a sort of tri-cornered sign. On one of the panels of this sign there is a picture of an Advent candle with the words, “Hope,” “Joy,” “Love,” and “Peace” (a typical Advent display) but then on a small banner underneath this Advent panel it reads, “Now with extended hours.”

I know where the Advent candle panel came from. We are still in the liturgical season of Advent; a time when we are supposed to prepare our lives for the coming of the Savior and so many churches have something “adventish” displayed somewhere either inside or, as in this case, on the church lawn. I also have some insight into the “extended hours” banner. I’ve been up and down this road enough to know that this church also runs a day care and the day care program now has extended hours.

So, it is my assumption that these two signs were not intended to be connected they just are displayed that way. At first I thought of this display as simply humorous but as I’ve thought more about it I’ve decided to take it as a bit of serendipity.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we would (or could) extend the amount of time we spend living out our hope and joy and love and peace? Just think about how our lives and our personal world would change if we spent more time hopefully, joyfully, lovingly and peacefully living our lives for people to see.

And on the other side of this conversation, wouldn’t it be nice if we could be certain that when we needed someone to love us or smile for us or say a hopeful word to us that it would be readily available because they were operating on extended hours?

Our lives can be so easily tied up in petty problems and momentary irritations that we miss all of the good things that are happening around us. Maybe it’s time to take the cell phone out of our ear and pay attention to all of the little bits of wisdom (even unintentional wisdom) that are lining the roadways of our lives. You might find something that will wake you up to a new way of living and the world will be a better place because of it.

It kind of reminds me of a baby in a manger and a world that was never the same. It was almost as if God were saying, “Hope, Joy, Love, and Peace now with extended hours.”