A Light In The Dark

Something deep in our souls longs for a light in the dark. At Christmas it spills out on Christmas trees, and Advent wreaths, and twinkling lights on houses. We desperately want to believe the words that angels proclaim in the night.

This Christmas season I have felt like the night is long and dark. All throughout December and leading up to Christmas Eve I felt like I was carrying heavy burdens. My heart aches for the girl who has no home, and it breaks for the man on the street who has fallen again into the addiction he hates. My stomach turns at the poverty and desperation all around me, contrasted with the Christmas lights and holiday music. Maybe the tears fall from your eyes too as you ache for the ones you serve.

The whole world groans under the weight of darkness.

Is this the groan that God heard from heaven on high?  The cries of humanity thrown out into the night?

Is this why He could not stand by? Divinity stepped down, down into the groaning darkness and was born as a mortal child. This is the wonder of Christmas.

God born like us. Born to change our story, and to stop our cries.

When we hear the groans around us, we have a way to answer. There is a peace to be preached, and an unlikely joy to be found and celebrated.

We love the Christmas lights because they defy the darkness. They whisper "hope" into the deepest night. They show us that we can overcome every day of the year.

And so we light the Advent candles, and we sing the angel's song.

I'll be home for Christmas...

... home, in Costa Rica. 

We'll be here, just the four of us, for Christmas this year. I've been feeling nostalgic and homesick for the States the past couple of days. When I'm missing our family there, my mind can wander to a scene of what it would be like if we were there with them.  I see candles glowing, stockings hanging, fire burning, family laughing, snow falling, grandparents and my little ones snuggling. A mist of tears drowns this scene, and as I wipe them away, my eyes and ears are opened to the scene surrounding me here.

I see a sweet newborn babe's newly discovered smile, a big open-mouthed grin, as she gazes up at me...

I hear our tea kettle whistling, even though it's sunny and 75 degrees outside...

I see the glistening reflection in our tile floor of the twinkling lights of our cyprus Christmas tree...

I hear a precious, clear, 2 year old voice singing "Away in the Manger" as he plays with his little paper and plastic nativity scene...

My heart is lifted, a smile comes, and my spirit rejoices.

I'm home.

I'll be home for Christmas. In Costa Rica.

Then, my now thankful eyes fall on yet another scene, the simple nativity in the center of our table. I think of Jesus. My King. My God who left His home, the glory of heaven, to redeem me, to give me an eternal home. With Him.

And, my heart is truly home. In Jesus.

I'll be home for Christmas.

O holy Child of Bethlehem!
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sins and enter in,
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great, glad tidings tell,
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

This is a 2010 post copied from my personal blog.  Now, three years later, Costa Rica is home to us, but we plan to be in the States for Christmas and I am anticipating missing Christmas in Costa Rica - the smell of the cyprus tree, Spanish Christmas carols, tamales on Christmas Eve, worship with our church family...  I'm praying for myself, and all of you, that we will find our joy, hope, and home in Jesus this Christmas! 

Where will you be this Christmas?  How is God encouraging you as you may feel far from home, loved ones, and special traditions?

Advent PEACE

I won't ask, "Are you ready for Christmas?" (Ready or not, it's coming.) However, I do want us to ask ourselves if our hearts are ready for Christmas and for Christ in every one of our days.

It's already time for the last Advent devotional. Peace is a lovely idea to focus on in a week that can be quite crazy.

[Jesus said] Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27

One of the questions from the devotional, that I'd love to see you answer right here: How can Jesus bring peace into your life today? And another question: Is your heart ready to celebrate His birthday?

See you all NEXT YEAR!

Advent JOY

The Joy devotional for week 3 of Advent is here. If you have an Advent wreath with the traditional colors of purple and pink, this will be the week to light the pink candle for JOY. Christmas is close....

I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
Luke 2:10

Here are some of Danielle's discussion questions, straight from the devotional: What is joy? What do you think this means? What makes you joyful? (I would love to hear your children's answers to those questions, as well as your own!)

Advent LOVE

Here is this next week's printable page. We've enjoyed our first week of Advent here. To be honest, there have been many crazy moments. Having a toddler who is obsessed with blowing out candles makes things exciting! But there have also been quiet, thoughtful moments, and I pray that Jesus is using this time to draw us closer to Himself.

This week we'll move on from a focus on hope and start to think about love: love embodied in Christ who came into this world for us.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son.
1 John 4:10

How is this season going in your home? What is God teaching you?

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?

Advent is coming!

And what do we have planned? On this blog, we'll be providing weekly devotionals that you can print out and use with your family. The traditional time to read them would be each Sunday of the month of December, so they'll be published on Saturdays. Each week has a theme to focus on, and these devotionals are designed to be used with an Advent wreath.

In our own family, we haven't ever had a traditional Advent wreath. Don't worry, if you don't either! You can pull together some candles, with or without greenery or other decorations. My favorite "wreath" that we've ever had looked like this:

Those are plain glass jars, covered with tissue paper, candles placed inside. I'm planning to try to remake it this year. I'd love to see what you use in your family!

We light our candle(s)--the appropriate number for the week--every evening during Advent. So, we'll be using the new devotional reading each Sunday, but also drawing its theme out for a whole week, plus reading a little more Scripture each day.

No matter what you're planning, please read this: it is probably my all-time favorite Advent blog post.

Posts on this blog will slow down, in order to give the writers more time to quietly focus at home. I was even planning to stop Tuesday Topics, but now we have some good holiday themed discussion starters, so I'll schedule those to post, at least some Tuesdays. I hope you all will participate in the discussion, as you have time.

I'm excited about this season! May the Lord use the month ahead of us to prepare our hearts for His coming and to draw us closer and closer to Him.

What does Advent look like in your home? Do you observe Advent? How? What are your plans for this year? Will you read along with us in the weekly devotionals we have coming up?