Adventus is here!!
These past two years I have really had a hard time during the Advent season. I have been in the middle of finals and always felt like I couldn't fully get in the spirit of the holidays. I couldn't fully prepare and get excited for the birth of Jesus. I was too caught up in the stress of school and finishing up the semester.
This year shouldn't be any different - I have five papers due this week alone. And yet - something got me thinking. This semester I have been taking month-long worship practicums that have looked at different parts of the Christian year. Most recently, we have been talking about Advent.
Advent is not just about getting ready for Christmas. It is not just about lighting candles, decorating trees and hooking up lots of lights.
Advent is the season of coming, waiting, expecting and arriving. The great thing about this season is that - in all reality - you do not have to DO ANYTHING during it. You can enter into this season wherever you are on your journey through life: You can wait for God to speak to you, come into the lives of the people who may need your love and support, expect the unexpected and wait for the arrival of Emmanuel - the God within us all.
I never thought about it until today - but on the first Sunday of Advent, we light the candle of Hope.
Hope.
I don't need to be free of finals, homework and stress in order to have hope in my life. Hope - despite all else - is always alive.
Hope is knowing that I have some of the most incredible friends and family who surround me every day, help me make good decisions and catch me when I fall. Hope is reading the stories of bloggers all over the country and seeing some of the incredible ways that they are serving their communities and our world. Hope is feeling a call to ministry - a call that I may not be able to understand but that gives me a larger purpose. Hope is knowing that I turn in my final paper on Dec. 11 and will finally have time to clean out, decorate, catch up with my friends and spend time with my husband.
Wherever you are in your life - you have hope.
What do you hope for this Advent season?
Sunday, November 29, 2009
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Amen to hope and to the things you said about the advent season!
ReplyDeleteI can remember very well all the papers I had to write and the projects I had to finish around this time of year. No fun! Hang in there Christmas is almost here!
Well said! This season, I'm hoping for peace, as cheesy as that sounds. I have several friends overseas throughout Iraq and I pray daily for their safety in such an unpeaceful country.
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