Each year around this time I write a feature about Advent. In a conversation the other day one of my friends mentioned she didn’t know much about this season.
When she asked about Advent, we had just finished the typical conversation you hear this time of year.
Me: How are you?
She: Busy like everyone else.
Me: Yes, this is a crazy time of year.
She: Yeah, it seems nonstop racing from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Years. I spent too much money and eat too much when I really need some peace and rest and bring the true meaning of Christmas back to my heart.
She needs Advent.
Advent
Advent is the four weeks before the celebration of the birth of Jesus. November 29 is the first Sunday in this season this year and at our church we will light the first of the four candles surrounding the white Christ candle. The candles symbolize joy, hope, peace and love.
This time before Christmas is a time of anticipation and waiting for the gift of this holy season. If we pay attention, God will surprise us with his presence. If we wait in stillness, we will find him in unexpected places like a manger in Bethlehem.
“Advent, like its cousin Lent, is a season for prayer and reformation of our hearts. Since it comes at winter time, fire is a fitting sign to help us celebrate Advent.If Christ is to come more fully into our lives this Christmas, if God is to become really incarnate for us, then fire will have to be present in our prayer. Our worship and devotion will have to stoke the kind of fire in our souls that can truly change our hearts. Ours is a great responsibility not to waste this Advent time.”
Edward Hays
Honoring this time by our attention and slowing down prepares our hearts for Christmas. Celebrating this time slows us down to recapture what we are seeking – Emmanuel – God with us.
Why is Advent Important?
Advent is a gift. A time of behold the wonders of this expectant time of year. Embracing the themes of hope, joy and preparation we hear God clearer in his message of love and salvation in the birth of his son.
Advent invites us to slow down and enjoy the hope and miracle that each day of life brings us. Instead of overeating on carbs we really don’t need, we fill our deepest emptiness with God.
We reset our internal watch to God’s time. We hear His voice instead of the constant barrage of buy, buy, buy.
Honoring this time reminds us of the lessons in waiting, the joy in anticipation, the pricelessness of hope.
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Preparing our hearts for Christmas isn’t just another item to accomplish on an already overflowing to-do list. This time of the year leads us to pause, to breath and to capture those simple moments – a smile, the twinkling of a candle, the smell of cookies baking, the laughter of children, the ringing of the bells and the soothing melodies of the music we only hear once a year.
Observing Advent focuses our perspective on what is most important in our lives. It also deepens our experience of Christmas.
How can we best celebrate Advent?
1. Read the Christmas story slowly, often and savor its words. Find a good devotional to ponder these fours weeks. Last year my advent devotional Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room was released and is just one example of a reading that may enrich your season. It contains 28 devotionals, quotations, prayers and practical tips for simplifying the Christmas season. I pray it blesses your Advent.
2. Breath in the message of the Advent season by reading inspiration quotes. Social media like Pinterest overflows with them. Here is the link to one of my most popular blog post listing some great Advent quotes.
3. Celebrate the time before Christmas by attending services at your church. Pray the words of the hymns.
4. Spend a few minutes saying a prayer for each person on your Christmas card list. Hold each card you receive in prayer too.
5. Hold one piece of your nativity set each day/week. Think what it was like for that character in Bethlehem. What did they see? Experience? Hear? How were they changed? How are you changed?
I wrote an Advent Resource Guide you can download for free here.
Advent – a time to slow down, savor and see things in the light of Christ.
How do you observe Advent? Do you have a favorite tradition?
My latest book: Chirstmas Seasonings: 101 Quotes and Prayers to Flavor the Holiday
Hi Jean, my husband sent me the link to your blog and I see I am writing under his name. Ooops! Every year my mother would take the readings we had in Church during the Advent season and try to expand on them using different passages, so that we as children could better understand. We loved watching the candles burn as my parents read, and then took turns blowing the candles out!
I remember my mother sighing, stating that she wished there were a kid friendly guide to Advent. This year I am endeavoring to not only lead my children into the true meaning of Christmas through Advent, but also to fulfill my mother’s wish. It is SO vital that we intentionally teach our children the true meaning of Christmas!!
Thank you for sharing the important message of Advent with your readers!
-Leah
Hi Leah, love your comment. So are you writing this up as a book? sounds like a great work. If you get it published I would love to feature it – even next year as a resource to share with others. I think Advent is so important and a great way to remember to keep God first. I admire your dedication to pass that onto your kids. Thanks for stopping by
Yes, my goal is to have a book ready to be published in time for Advent 2016. I would love to share it with you! Thanks so much!
-Leah
be sure to contact me next year and let me know. I will give a shout out on my blog for you!!
Hi Jean! Advent is my favorite season in the church calendar. This year, I’m taking December off of the blog to just savor it! I hope to be open to Christ working in me each day, and to be inspired by His joy and peace. Can’t wait!
I always have an Advent Wreath, so I love the idea of light and the soul. That quote you have here is really beautiful (I copied it!!). I want to keep reading it in the days ahead.
May God bless you and yours this Thanksgiving and Christmas Season. I do think the new year will see us meeting each other, don’t you?
God’s peace and joy,
Ceil
Good for you for taking a blogging break. I think in I am going to try to do a once a week, 24 hours internet fast. Not sure I can do it – isn’t that pitiful? Advent is a wonderful time of year. so glad you embrace it too. Happy Thanksgiving.
I love the season of Advent, Jean, and I love your suggestions here. We always pray when we light the Advent candles on the table and we actually have two Advent calendars that I enjoy keeping up with each day. It makes me feel like a child again, and what could be better than that as we anticipate the birth of the Holy Child. Blessings!
I was so surprised when my friend didn’t know much about this season. Yes it is a special time of year and one we all need to be fully prepared for the birth of Christ. But right now I want to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.!!
And the same to you, Jean! Blessings!