Running Low?

The other day my computer had a pop-up that was telling me I was running low on RAM. I was driving around and my car had a warning light that said I was low on fuel. I was looking at the bankbook and noticed I was low on money. I opened the refrigerator and noticed I was low on milk.

It got me thinking, how often do I notice that I am low on prayer? Do I notice that I am low on Christian charity? Do I notice that I am low on my expressed appreciation of others? Do I notice that I am low on letting God know I love Him? Am I low on letting others know I love them? Am I low on my own appreciation of myself or who I am before God

It is easy to kind of travel along thinking everything is OK presuming we will get some kind of warning sign at the last minute to wake us from our doldrums. But what happens if we don’t recognize or heed the pop-ups in life? While many people think Advent is simply an opportunity for Christmas parties, shopping or decorating; its real emphasis is like a pop-up to remind us that Jesus is coming. Are we ready for HIS arrival, or do we figure because He died 2000 years ago He is irrelevant to our lives today?

Have we cleaned our spiritual home and our hearts by going to confession regularly? Have we prepared our lives to be scrutinized by the intense light of God or do we settle for being “not bad”? Are we working to make the world a better place for everyone or focused on just ourselves and our families? Have we reached out beyond our local comfort zones to the least in our world? How many of us as we look at our lives are ready for canonization? Have we strived to be the person God is calling us to be, or do we settle for “good enough”?

Anytime is a good time for waking up. Today is a pop-up telling us we need to get ready, to warn us of potential problems which need our attention. Today is an opportunity to make changes in our lives, to refocus our attention onto those things that really matter. Many in our world have lost everything almost overnight only to discover that their possessions were really not as important as they had believed.

Perhaps today can be a new advent for us to check and see if we are running low instead of waiting until tomorrow!