There's a certain pleasant adrenaline rush that comes with finding the perfect gift to spoil the people I love. Carols get me through dragging days at the newsroom, and each night brings me that much closer to seeing my love again at the end of his semester.
But more than anything else, I love Advent.
There's something vindicating in the quiet, joyful anticipation you can feel at our Masses in the four weeks before Christmas. Outside the church doors, the world is a swirl of chaos as we rush about to bake and buy and accomplish. Inside, we leave it all behind to prepare in a different way.
Advent means "coming." Most people associate that with the upcoming arrival of our adorable little baby Savior. But this season is for more than just that. It's the Church's new year, a time to start fresh.
In the readings from last week, we're reminded Jesus will come suddenly. This past week, we were given an admonition from John the Baptist: "Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight His paths!"
The way to our hearts can be bumpy, cluttered or blocked altogether. Fear, baggage and distraction can sometimes make it nearly impossible for Jesus to reach us. He's always trying, but do we let Him?
For me, I've had too much on my plate lately. It's all well-meaning enough, but the truth is the things I thought I've been doing for God have actually pulled me away from just spending time sitting with Him and sorting it all out.
Some Catholic families fill up their Nativity scene with hay. I needed to take hay out of mine to make more room.
The nice thing about Advent is the preparations we make now can carry us into the new year on a high note.
There might be less than two weeks until Christmas, but the wonderful thing about faith is it's never too late start exploring — or start over.
Maybe it can be the beginning of something new for all of us.
The more I read this blog, the more it makes me smile. There is a point where I realize that I too could take a little time to just be with Him and let him provide for me, rather than rushing around like an over worked crazy man. Lately I'm always preoccupied with "needing" to put up the tree and bake the cookies and sing the songs and clean the house over and over and...and somewhere it sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. Maybe if I spent a little time just being, instead of needing, I'd do a little better with it all.
ReplyDelete