December 8 “Waiting”

I remember when I was a kid we had an Advent calendar on the wall in our house.  It was hand stitched with 24 pouches each containing a hand stitched ornament with Velcro on the back and every morning whoever woke up first would put that day’s ornament up.  It was always a contest to see who would get to put the ornament up.  We also had an Advent candle wreath we would light every Sunday evening.  The same is true today and all these items are designed to help us wait and prepare during Advent.  Most of these items are designed to help us prepare for Christmas, but the Advent candle scripture and daily devotionals often point to Jesus’ second coming; a healthy balance for Advent.

Waiting is never easy and if we don’t take some time each day to slow down, Advent can become an anxious time.  Advent was never meant to be an anxious time.  After all, consider the Advent Candle themes: hope, peace, love, joy, and Christ. 

None of these wonderful Advent themes (based upon qualities that God seeks for us) should bring about worry or anxiety. It is all the cultural and earthy trimmings of the season that bring about worry, anxiousness, and envy.  What do we worry about; the perfect gift, making sure the traditional baking and meals are perfect.  We stress about getting Christmas cards out on time. All this stress to celebrate the birth and second coming of the Prince of Peace – rather ironic isn’t it. 

I’ve talked before about joy versus happiness, they are not the same. Happiness is an emotion as is sadness, while joy is a choice. We can always be joyful in spite of certain things in life that may cause us sadness.  Peace, hope, and love are like that too.  We can be at perfect peace in our hearts even when we are in the midst of grief, chaos, and uncertainty.  We can always have hope even when things seem very dire in our earthly lives.  What does the Bible tell us about love? “Love never fails.  But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.” Love will never end, not matter what, because the source of all love is in God who will never die.  Our hope, peace, and joy are found in that love as well.  With God living in us, in His Holy Spirit, no matter the circumstances of life, we will always have love, hope, peace and Joy.

Prayer: Father, we thank You for love.  Please allow us to know and share the love of Jesus with everyone we come in contact with. Provide us someone today to just smile at, say hi, and Merry Christmas to. That simple gesture might be just what they need to help life them up in a busy day.  Remind us of Your presence, You living inside of us, speaking truth to us. We thank You Father for the few minutes spent reading about Your qualities based in love that never fail us. May these qualities be a blessing for us today and help us to be a blessing to a stranger today.

God’s love, joy, hope, and peace to you and yours today, Pastor Brett