Good Question.

The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

   Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. 

After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. 

And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

   

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

--1 Kings 19:11-13

It's the end of another year, and we assume another one is just around the corner. Most of us, over the last month or longer, have engaged in too much. 

Too much eating. 

Too much spending. 

Too much rushing about looking, buying-- returning.

We work and worry about so many things in our lives. We wonder if that guy in the next cubicle is after our job. We are sure the person that just whipped around us on the highway is out to get us-- it's all personal.

Elijah kind of had that going on, as well.

Jezebel, one Queen Bee, was out to get Elijah-- literally. Wanted him killed as quickly and horribly as possible. Elijah ran, fast and far, wound up in a cave. The Lord sent angels to care for him, strengthen him-- and still Elijah fretted and worried.

Finally, the LORD told Elijah: Be there or be square. I AM about to pass by.

Seems Elijah got Somebody's attention. Now if only God can get Elijah's attention.

Elijah is looking for the Creator of all that is. He is expecting an arrival like that of an earthly king, only more. An all-powerful wind perhaps. No, not God. An earthquake-- nope. Fire? Not there, either.

No, for Elijah, the God of the Universe arrives as a still, quiet whisper. One so small, so ordinary, that if Elijah had not been desiring it, looking for it-- he would have missed it altogether.

Christmas is nearly behind us. This celebration of an ordinary miracle of God-become-human, of the King arriving not with pomp and circumstance, but with the cry of new life; born not to a princess in a palace, but in a lowly cattle stall. Ushered in not by courtiers with brass horns, but by the soft sounds of the stable, a cacophony of moos and baas-- and an olfactory assault decidedly unfit for a king.

Children's author Hans Christian Anderson put it this way. "The whole world is a series of miracles, but we're so used to seeing them, we call them ordinary things."

This, friends, is how our God chooses to engage with the children he loves. And this is how he arrived to pass by when Elijah was deeply troubled. 

But here's the clinker. Here's where I am stopped in my tracks. 

God passes before Elijah, comes to him as a small voice designed not to terrorize, but to comfort, and then asks this question:

"Elijah, what are you doing-- here?"

And then he sends Elijah back, back from whence he came, reminding him that he does not go alone. Reminding him that God goes with him, just as he travelled before the Israelites in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Always present. Always.

What are you doing-- here?

Have you thought about that lately? Are you in such a hurry to get there, that you are neglecting here? 

Or, as Mary Oliver puts it, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

Happy New Year. May 2012 find you peace-filled, seeking the Lord in the ordinary, finding beauty in the moment. 

Thanks for reading. Tell your friends : )