Advent Day Five

Tuesday, 3 December: …she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:6b

“He chose, poorly,” intones the aged knight in the classic movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as the Nazi withers dies, and desiccated blows away. We use God’s great gift of choice rather haphazardly, all too often choosing in haste and choosing poorly. But very rarely do we choose ignorantly. We choose out of pride. We know better, and our willful choices generate Advent. Just as in the garden, the crunch of our poor choices echoes throughout our lives bringing pain, suffering, and death. And just as in the garden, a loving God replaces our pitiful fig leaves with durable well-made clothes. Despite our choosing poorly, He still chooses us. He clothes and feeds. He makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike, and truth be told, we’re all unjust. We stand there, faces stained with the juice of the fruit of our choice, and He still chooses to love. He still chooses advent.