What are you waiting for?

This year, I have been reading an excellent book called 

"The Circle of Seasons: Meeting God in the Church Year"

by Kimberlee Conway Ireton.

It has been helping me think about the invitation

known as Advent.

Advent means "coming".

In the season before the coming, there is a waiting.

Just as the people of Israel waited over 400 years

for promise of a Savior to be fulfilled,

so we are waiting for his return, for all things to be set right.

But this is not a waiting synonymous with boredom, impatience or anxiousness.

It is a waiting synonymous with hope.

This Advent season, I am challenged to be present in the waiting.  I love the fact that, though Thanksgiving is not a "church year" holiday, it kicks off the season with an eye to the past, reminding us of where God has been and is at work, reminding us to be thankful. Reminding us that while we turn our eye to what we do not yet see, we do it with confidence in the One whose goodness and faithfulness we have seen.

I am not a worrier by nature, which is usually a good thing. There is a pitfall, however. I am one to look at a situation over which I have no control, maybe pray about it, and then just "leave it with God". I am not one to wait with him, though. I am right there in the garden with the disciples who could not join Jesus for one hour in the agony of life or death prayer.

This Advent season, I'm accepting his invitation to name the empty mangers in my world, the places where I need to wait and watch and PRAY for him to come. Like a friend waiting for a transplant, a relative waiting for a job, a dear one who has given up on the whole concept of hope, a challenging situation that needs a wise, productive solution. Like those stricken by disease and waiting for a cure,  people terror-stricken, bereft and displaced, waiting for an end to evil, and like bigotry that needs to be replaced with understanding and compassion. Like someone I know who needs the ever-growing fruit of maturity--and that someone is ME.

I'm taking my cues from Mary and Joseph and the wise men, and I'm watching for Jesus to show up.

"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved, But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."  Romans 8:22-25

Amen.  Come Lord Jesus.

Merry and Bright

Photo 52, Week 51:  Merry and Bright

Do you see that?  My friend Carla knows me so well!  

She gave me chocolate from around the world.

Pretty sure nothing could have made me merrier,

and it certainly is bright!

How did you know that was this week's theme, Carla?
You must be an angel.  ;-)

I do love how festive things look at this time of year,

beginning at home…

and also out and about.

Not only the sights, but the sounds,

a perfect combination.

Lee and I slipped away to attend a sing along Handel's Messiah.

We've been to several over the years, and it takes my breath away every time.

This does too.  

(Next time, tripod.) 

(We were already running late.)

This, my friends, is a snow bank close up.

And then there is the mall version of merry and bright.

It lasted five minutes, but hey.

We stopped to see this on the way home.

We can see it from the highway every year.

There on the left is Ben.  With shorts on.

Because nothing says merry and bright

like a kid who is establishing his manhood

by weathering winter without wearing anything warm.

The Advent calendar reminds us that there is still a little time left

but as always there is much to do.

May your days be merry and bright.

May your Christmas be white if you want it to be.

May the inn of your heart

find room for Emmanuel,

God with us.

December Moments

Oh holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray.

Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.

It's one of those months

where everything runs together

in a blur.

It's almost all good,

especially if we take it as it comes,

determined to enjoy, not to make perfect.

Like this ice for example.

The rink was flooded.

Kind of.

Several layers more will help.

But my kids?

Determined to enjoy.

There is more,

that I lived but did not photograph.

This is some of the best.

You know what?

This is our Jesse Tree. So far.

For a variety of reasons, it is, shall we say, incomplete.

We are behind. Behind with Advent.

I am happy to say, I am not fighting it.

After all, Jesus came to earth once the people could see

that their rituals did not bring him closer.

Not that the rituals were inherently bad.

They just weren't the point.

This year, I've welcomed the gift of letting him find me.

Wherever I am.

To show me how amazing he is

right here in my own little world.

We hear the Christmas angel the great glad tidings tell;
Oh come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel.