Advent 2020

I feel like I could use some time to pause and take a breath. Anyone else?

2020 has been quite a year. So I have been looking forward to celebrating Advent. A time of expectant waiting and preparation for Christ's coming. A time to pause and reflect, focus my attention on the coming Light. In a lot of ways, it feels like all we have been doing for months is waiting. Waiting for the curve to flatten. Waiting for a vaccine. Waiting for life to return to normal. Waiting to feel better. But that waiting feels so futile and endless, and the positive results we want are definitely not guaranteed. Contrast that with the joy and anticipation of Advent. We have the benefit of celebrating a sure thing, the coming of the Messiah over 2000 years ago. And while we still wait and groan, we have the assurance of His second coming. That gives me so much peace and joy in the midst of a year like 2020.

Since all of our Christmas things are packed away in our PODS, we don't have our Jesse Tree. I also don't have easy access to a printer to even have a makeshift advent calendar. So we are doing something new! I ordered The Christmas Promise book and calendar, and we will read through the little devotions each night. While I definitely miss our usual reading plan and want to keep up that tradition, it's kind of fun to have something different this year.

Personally, I am walking through the Hymns for Advent devotional from The Daily Grace Co. I really enjoy hymns, and it's fun to walk through the history of these Christmas ones, while also looking more deeply at the lyrics.