“When I am dangerously tired, I can be very, very busy and look very, very important, but be unable to hear the quiet, sure voice of the One who calls me His beloved. When that happens, I lose touch with that place in the center of my being where I know who I am in God. When that happens, I am at the mercy of all manner of external forces, tossed and urned by others’ expectations and my own compulsions.”

Ruth Haley Barton

Being very, very busy is often the way of American life in the first two weeks of December. Last night, I ran into a friend who had events scheduled every night for the first 20 days of December. That’s a lot.

Ruth Haley Barton has an excellent podcast called Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. This season she offers a series on Advent, with Scripture, sound advice and exercises to help us achieve a true state of waiting for Jesus.

Her first podcast in the series suggests that we think about places where we are waiting for Jesus in the darkness, and we make an effort to sit and wait for Him. Scroll down through the link to find the First Sunday of Advent episode.