Advent ~ Tis the Season to REMEMBER the Reason
Every year on Christmas day we suffered from the heart-sickening knowledge that we weren’t glorifying the Lord, His precious birthday, or focusing on Him as much as we could.
We were good at sharing Christ during His season of birth, but we always had the disconcerting feeling that something was missing. We had an empty, aching longing for our Savior. Our lives focused so much on Him, but somehow, as each Christmas rolled by in a flurry of activity, were we missing Him?
Several years ago, we discovered the beauty of celebrating Advent. Our hearts began to fill with the Lord, as we slowed down, and celebrated Advent! We ordered a devotional, Jotham’s Journey (part of a trilogy that is now out of print) and on the first Sunday of Advent, we hastily pulled together a wreath and candles.
That first night, with candles glowing, singing carols, and reading the Bible, we began to fill the ache of many years. The single most exciting thing in our lives is celebrating Christ in Advent each night!
We had read and memorized many of the prophecies, we knew the carols, we knew the story, but now when we sit in our candlelit house each evening, it is all new, it is fresh, it is like Christ is about to be born in a few days, yet we celebrate His birth two millennia ago!
I cannot express how wonderful this entire Advent celebration is, and how it is further melding our family together.
Now I am on a mission to share with friends and family the treasure of celebrating Advent. We Christians are missing out. Growing up without Christ, I thought Advent was a countdown to Santa. I knew about the big cardboard books filled with daily chocolates throughout the month of December, until the magical night when the reindeer flew around the world delivering Christmas presents to good little girls and boys.
It is on my heart to develop an Advent wreath for next year, to order several books, and to have an `Advent Party’ during Thanksgiving weekend. We will give our friends a wreath and book, and show them how we do it, probably by doing an actual night of Advent with house aglow. This will be their Christmas present, and, God willing, it will be their new family tradition for years to come!
Had a dear friend years ago, not taken the time to show us how to celebrate Advent, we would have spent many more years with many Christmas season’s dripping past, with that aching longing for something more.
May the Lord bless you as you begin your Advent traditions.
