Advent HOPE

This first week of the devotional that Danielle wrote and so kindly shared is ready for you to print out and read tomorrow night! (Or use it stretched out over the next week, or however fits for your family, of course. Some years we've found that Monday nights work much better than those tired and busy Sundays that ministry families tend to have.)

Here is Danielle's intro to her family Advent devotions:

Celebrating Advent is a way to help your children make meaningful connections, and focus on Jesus during the time leading up to Christmas. Each week, with the lighting of the candle, you can share with your children about the true Light of the World.

What is Advent?
Start the Advent season by introducing the concept to your children by explaining it is a special season where we look forward to the arrival of Jesus. The word “advent” comes from a word meaning “coming” or “arrival,” and the Advent season is all about waiting for the coming of Christ.

Waiting in expectation for something to happen means that we are excited for it to happen, just like each year as the weeks go by leading up to Christmas we get more and more excited for the day to arrive. The way we feel at Christmas is the way that people felt for many, many years as they waited for God’s promised gift, the Messiah, to arrive.

The Advent wreath is made of evergreen which is a symbol for eternal life--life that lasts forever and ever. It is always green so it reminds us of always being alive forever and ever. We can live forever because Jesus came to the earth.

The candles of Advent represent light. Jesus is the Light of the world, and He shines like a bright candle in the darkness. The world can be sad and hard sometimes but when we know Jesus we always have light and these candles remind us of that.

In our own family (this is Phyllis writing now) we had a fun night of "preparing to prepare" last night. Tonight we'll continue that, with pulling together our Advent wreath. And then on Sunday we should be ready to start reading and preparing our hearts along with all of you here.

Also, I've discovered a new-to-me resource for moms. I'll be reading their Advent devotionals myself, starting on Monday. Their themes match up perfectly with ours here; we're just a week behind them. So, if you have a minute, you might head over there, and watch their Advent intro or hope video and read a post they have about hope. (Another side note: I'm super excited about the translations GMG has available or in progress. Russian and Ukrainian are even coming soon! I could see myself printing out these books and sharing with a group next year....)

We'd really love to hear about Advent in your homes! If you write about it on your blog, please give us a link below, or just tell us in the comments about how this first week goes for you. And let's be thinking about hope: how do you define HOPE?