It may be because we are afraid of the dark.
As the days get shorter and darkness grows, as we approach the end of each year, we enter a season that our culture calls “The Holidays.” We barely have time to experience each one distinctly. They blend together, becoming one big excuse to spend and consume. We get lost in a rush of costumes and candy, turkey and football, carols and trees. We shortchange ourselves. They become something to be endured, a source of tension. We talk about “getting through” or even “surviving” the Holidays.
Advent is the opposite of all of that. Advent is taking time to prepare and to anticipate. It is not the anticipation of eagerly reaching forward, trying to hasten the arrival of the present, the gift, the payoff. It is the savoring of the anticipation, recognizing it and letting each day teach us its lessons. It is rooted in the mindfulness of the present moment, not the desire for the future or the regret of the past. Advent is about becoming ready for what is coming.
Advent teaches us to anticipate without rushing.
We light one candle the first week, another the next week, and another the next. Slowly, when it is time, all of the candles are lit. Even then, they are not even and that reminds us of how we have waited and prepared in anticipation.
We open one door each day, and receive one treat each day. Advent is not about opening all the doors and eating all of the chocolate all at once; it is about savoring each piece.
Above all, Advent is about the combining of the challenges and the joy that come from waiting and preparing in anticipation. We are quiet enough to listen, yet expectant enough to continue.
How will you take time to savor today? What is being prepared in you? What is the lesson for you?
[Image by Per Ola Wiberg ~ Powi]
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In