Thanksgiving in my family is one holiday where you just don’t know what you’re going to get: who’s going to show up? Will the turkey get cooked? Will there be snow, or will it be warm enough for a hike that will work up a sweat? In years past the answers to these questions have varied significantly, but as much as these things are unpredictable, my love for this season is the opposite. This time of year, from Thanksgiving to the Christmas season holds a very special place in my heart and my appreciation has only grown as I have grown. A few years ago, I discovered the Liturgical season of Advent. Okay, yes- growing up I always knew it was a thing. I knew the word, I knew that it meant the time before Christmas and I knew that it meant we would light the Advent wreath candles at the dinner table (I always loved playing with the little elves dressed in red and green that looked as if they were doing acrobatics as the hugged the candle sticks). However, only recently have I discovered what a beautiful season this really is, and a lot of my love for this season has come from the truth and beauty I found in a little book I stumbled upon last year. Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of WaitingWe look at the different facets of this season, turning it like a jewel in our hands. Certainly it is a season for children. It is a season of the child, the joy of the Child who came to give joy to the world. It is a season, certainly, of the family, of the community. Family life was solidly established in a lowly, humble, poor place, with three persons who loved utterly and were utterly given- even the Child, from the first moment, because he was divine. It is a season of great tenderness, and a season of hush. It is a season for everyone. Advent summons us to fold the wings of our souls. There is rich meaning in the expression “folded wings”. Folded wings that remain always folded and are never spread to fly in giving would be wings that would deteriorate in atrophy whereas wings that are always spread and never folded in intense personal prayer, reflection, contemplation would be wings quickly spent or perhaps misspent...with all this- the joy, the tenderness…the folded wings- Advent is a season of tremendous purpose. Every once in a while a book comes along that is like a perfect fit in the puzzle of life. It slides right in. It brings clarity and purpose and beauty. This is one of those books for me. I hope you find a book someday that is that perfect fit for you. I believe that we are meant to have many of these in our lives. That is why I am sharing this with you. Maybe this book can be one of those puzzle-piece books for you too. Advent: it’s a season of tremendous purpose! We do not wait idly or by distracting ourselves with shiny and attractive things, we wait with purpose, we prepare our hearts. We turn our swords into plowshares. We all have blades (and they are God-given), which are our strength and our power. And each one decides: whether I will strike out with the sword or whether I will turn my sword into a plowshare to plow up my own little heart, getting all the hardness out of it- all the harness out of my spirit, of my soul- and become rich soil for God’s planting. He wants so much to plant; He wants us to flower; he wants us to bring forth fruit. But he leaves it to us to work with the plowshare of grace. The time is now. How will you choose to use your God-given blades this season? How will you choose to till the “soil of your heart”? How will our Savior find your heart when He comes?
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This Blog...I'm Emily: a mission leader with Saint Paul's Outreach. This is blog is here to keep you up to date with what is happening in the mission field at Ohio State! Archives
October 2016
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