Advent, we hear the word, perhaps even read or participate in Advent devotionals or programs. Your family may even have an advent calendar as a way to count down the days leading to Christmas. But I wonder if we fully understand the meaning and origin of the Advent season. The word ‘Advent’ means, according to Meriam-Webster: “the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas and observed by some Christians as a season of prayer and fasting; it is meant as a remembrance of the first coming of Christ and an anticipation of His second coming”. However, if you were to go back and research the origin of the word, you would find that it comes from the Latin word ‘adventus’ simply meaning arrival or appearance. 

The intent of Advent is to look back and remember, while at the same time, to look forward with anticipation to Jesus’ second coming. Depending on your church or family and its traditions you may celebrate Advent in many different ways. Some celebrations involve wreaths or trees along with lighting candles. While others will observe a different theme each of the four weeks of Advent with periods of fasting. 

Our culture today is one of impatience. We don’t like to wait for anything. In fact, in many cases we tend to rush the season. This is especially true at Christmas time. Most stores have had Christmas decorations on shelves for months (come on Hobby Lobby – July is way too early for Christmas!). Many of you more than likely put up your tree prior to Thanksgiving (yes, I admit ours has been up for a couple of weeks-not my choice). Some have had Christmas music playing since  late October and most of us started Christmas shopping long ago. While there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these things, I believe they can steal our focus and attention away from Jesus, who after all is the reason we have a Christmas holiday to celebrate. 

As we humans tend to do, we often make the celebration of the season more complicated than it needs to be. We attach rules and guidelines, we overly prepare in an attempt to control and ensure everyone is on the same page. Personally, one of the things I do best is over-complicate in an attempt to control. Case in point -this Advent devotional. You see since last Christmas, I’ve had this idea of writing an Advent devotional for this year. I’ve started and stopped this project too many times to count and now here we are on the “official” first day of Advent 2022 and it’s only half written. I’m embarrassed to admit how much I have agonized over getting this done and trying to decide if it’s even a good idea. My plan was that I was going to buckle down last week and knock the remaining days out. However, as it turned out, I ended up sick and spent most of last week on the couch doing nothing. Sometimes God will do something to plans we make without Him. The fact is, what I had been doing was taking a God given idea and forcing into my time table.

This weekend after talking with my husband and praying (yes, praying is where I should have began), the decision I landed on is that God put this idea in my head and has kept it there an entire year. Additionally, He has given words for half of the days. So I will share what I have, trusting Him to give me words for the remaining days or a way to draw what is written to a conclusion. While there may not be a posting everyday of Advent, I will faithfully share the ideas and questions God has provided on a somewhat regular basis between now and Christmas Day.

Today will be only Sunday post. Sundays are a day for corporate worship, rest and family. My encouragement is for you to fully engage and enjoy the Lord’s day. Psalms 118:24 “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”. Go to church, go out to lunch with family or friends, take a nap, watch football, go for a walk – make time to do those things that bring you rest and fill your cup. Why not set aside some time to completely disconnect- put your phone away, resist the urge to check your email and/or social media – and just be! Learn to embrace and enjoy the quietness.