Last evening a conversation went on in the car as we drove to a meeting with our church elders. We remembered that Advent started yesterday, catching us off guard.
We are usually ready well ahead of time.
Ready with preparations not just of the home, but our hearts also.
Yesterday normally would have begun our daily celebration worship in which we wait and watch, with the children, in anticipation of the coming day.
But God gave us a different surprise this past week which has taken our time away from those preparations. He isn’t caught off guard.
He had a different plan for our celebration this year. He doesn’t really care about the physical preparations we make for the season.
As I sit here thinking about it, a baby is really what it’s all about in the end anyway isn’t it?
His birth and the reason He came is more important than the decor that is missing from my home.
His advent season is more about what He wants to do in our hearts, not as much about how beautiful the decorations are or even if we have a physical representation of the birth history being center stage each day.
He wants our hearts this season. That is what He cares about.
He wants us to know the reason why He came as a tiny baby. He wants us to follow Him from birth to the cross to the ultimate reason why He came…to the resurrection! He wants us to follow Him as He conquered sin and death. That was His reason for being here to begin with. Christmas, Advent–the point is to turn our hearts to His death and resurrection.
To give Him our hearts in faith, trusting in His gift to us…eternal life with Him, free from sin forever.
No, I am not ready, like I usually am, for the Advent season, but as I hold my precious new blessing from God my thoughts turn to that day in wonder. How did Mary feel when she gave birth to our Savior? How did she feel when she knew God had given her a special place in HIStory? What was going through her mind when the shepherds came with their miraculous story? What must she have felt when she faced the cross?
This year as I look to the advent season, God has been gracious enough to gift me more faith and trust in His sovereignty. He has stretched and grown this woman in many challenging ways which has resulted in a deeper relationship with Him. And that is what it is all about.
He came because of relationship. He came because He loved us. He came to deal with death. And He did. Thankfully!
As you head into this Advent season, what is He teaching you? Showing you?
This week’s pondering: Christmas: A Season of Seeking Christ…
Photos: Christmas past in my father’s home
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