ADVENT
Christmas is one week from today, and Advent season has absolutely flown by. Over the past few weeks I’ve been compiling little revelations along the way and (finally!) have a chance to share them with you.
Advent is the busiest season of the year for my little workshop. December flips a switch unlike any other month. In this tiny corner of the world, we send packages from coast to coast and sometimes across the pond. This season brings endless packing tape and planning for a new year, but it’s also a season of waiting and anticipation for my company and me. Some days it feels like I’m in the land of ready, set, not yet! Meanwhile, Advent quietly and ever so patiently invites me to the table. To come and sit for a while. To rest and wait; wait for the Lord. It’s so easy to get caught up in my own working and waiting. To lose sight of the true purpose of working in the middle of holiday craze. Advent helps me remember. Advent helps me press into the true meaning of this busy season of waiting for Christmas Day to come.
Every year my family decorates our Christmas tree together. We hang ornaments one by one, remembering the memories they stir from years past. A first Christmas with a baby back in ‘96, a favorite Hallmark piece from ’77, a hand-crocheted snowflake (or 20!), and much more adorn the branches. Then there’s the gold star — the same one we’ve had for as long as I can remember — that crowns the tree with a special kind of Christmas magic. Magic that reminds us to look up in awe not just at the star itself, but at the King whose coming is near.
Advent season is a lot like unpacking ornaments and setting up well-loved Christmas decorations. The verses we read each year leading up to Jesus’ birth are like memories of ornaments from years ago. They bring back a feeling of home, of joy, and of hope for the future. These feelings take us back to a sacred place.
Like children eagerly awaiting Christmas morning, so we also wait eagerly for the Lord. We wait for Him to answer prayers, to come to our rescue, to comfort, to bend down and listen. Advent season reminds us of His coming. He came unlike anyone else in the history of the world — our Savior, fully human and fully God — as a baby. Have you ever paused to just dwell on that a bit? It never ceases to amaze me.
This year I have found Advent preparing me not only for the coming of Jesus, but in the coming of a new year and decade as well. Tracing God’s faithfulness through Old Testament promises fulfilled in the New Testament tangibly reminds me His promises are true through every generation. That means they are true for you and me too! Whatever we are waiting for; whatever sign we seek; all can be found in Jesus. He is the reason for the season, our true joy and celebration, the star pointing us home.
Merry Christmas to you and yours, friend.
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. -Isaiah 9:6
The angel reassured them, “Don’t be afraid! I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior — yes, the Messiah, the Lord — has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! -Luke 2:10-11