No.201: Intentions for Advent

I am SO ready for Advent this year.  As we enter the last days of 2018, I’m tired.  Weary from what’s happening in our Church, from parenting struggles, from financial difficulties, from the everyday wear and tear of being in charge of so many moving parts.  Still, in the midst of it all, God is faithful.  He still shows up, showing His love for me, even when I’m feeling numb.

I want to record one example that just happened last week.  We recently received an L.L.Bean catalog in the mail and I looked enviously at all of the gorgeous fresh evergreen wreaths.  But bills need to be paid and presents need to be purchased, so I placed the catalog in recycling with the hope that maybe I could get one next year.  The very next day, we had an unexpected visitor: the small business owner that we hired last spring to install our front flower beds!  And what was she bringing to wish us a Merry Christmas?  An enormous, fresh evergreen wreath.  By my reaction, you would have thought she was holding a big check from Publisher’s Clearing House!  I was so surprised and thrilled and overwhelmed, I probably scared her.  But what are the odds?  Something so small, something I didn’t mention to anyone…and there it is, literally at my doorstep.

This Advent, I plan to slow down as much as possible, to ponder Christ and what it means to follow Him, and prepare for His birth in the simplest of ways.  I don’t have fancy reading plans or devotionals or journals this year.  I just have open hands and an eager heart, letting Him lead me where He wants me.  Even in the midst of this hard season, God is here with me.  What a comforting thought. 

Wishing you a peaceful Advent season. XO