25; 9, 15;
Amos 7:1-9 Rev. 1:1-8 Matt. 22:23-33
Over the past 21 months, I have never seen more articles about finding the perfect work-life balance. These articles list various ideas, routines, and habits that promise to align your life perfectly and ultimately leave you happier. For a time, I also believed that the advice offered by these articles would make me a happier person. However, the pandemic has changed my mind, challenging me to re-measure my life, consider what I value most, and prioritize the activities and people that make me the happiest.
In today’s reading from Amos, we are given a vision of God using a plumb line to measure a wall. God then uses that plumb line to measure the people of Israel, specifically the greedy and oppressive to whom the book of Amos is directed.
A plumb line, a weight at the end of a string, uses gravity to test whether a structure is vertical or not, telling us if things are in alignment and if something needs to change. In our search for work-life balance, what might happen if we measured our efforts using God’s plumb line?
Amos recognized that there were unhealthy and destructive things that did not, and would never, fit God’s plumb line. Likewise, sometimes there are unnecessary and unhealthy things in our lives that we need to let go of, not balance. Like those in Amos, how might we accept the call to find a balance of stripping away what is not healthy or good for us as individuals and as a society?
During Advent, we are reminded of the possibility that God’s reign could arrive at any moment. As we live towards this hope, rather than the plumb lines of profit-driven economies and grind culture, we have an opportunity to use God’s plumb line to measure our post-pandemic lives. What are you being invited to re-measure in your life, so that you can live in alignment with God’s love?
Lord, bless us as we continue to walk alongside you, measuring our lives with your plumb line. May we embrace our journey to align in your love with kindness and grace. Amen.
Listen to Tatiana read her Advent meditation and prayer:
