(image found here)It is December. This is the last month of the year, but we all knew that. It is also Advent, my favorite time in the Church calendar. I love it because it is both difficult and beautiful. It is a time of waiting and celebrating. We are waiting for the Messiah to come again, and celebrating that he has come once already. This is difficult because the first coming didn't end with peace on earth, but it is exciting because it did end with resurrection and the promise of a New Heaven and a New Earth. It is difficult because we are living in the space between, and the space between is hard and beautiful.
I read a pastors blog the other day that really hit home with some of the struggle I have been having with God and everything lately. Danielle Shroyer closes her post with these questions:
With the start of the last month of what has been a killer hard year I am excited. I am excited to see how 2010 closes itself out, with parties, concerts, time off from work, a fabulous stay-cation, some serious house decorating, and time to remember the birth of our Savior. I am excited to spend some time remembering what I am really waiting for is ahead. Yes, on January first I get to put the mess of 2010 behind me (at least figuratively) but I also get to look back on a year of incredible growth and rebirth; a year of gentle whispers from a God that loves me; a year of being honest with God about how abandoned and betrayed I feel; a year of recognizing my need for relationship and love, as well as my need for redemption. In the next month I hope that I finish well, I hope to lean into the waiting and trust that there is so much more ahead. Redemption is a slow and beautiful process, and even if it has already been 2000 plus years of waiting, rescue is coming.
Rejoice.
I read a pastors blog the other day that really hit home with some of the struggle I have been having with God and everything lately. Danielle Shroyer closes her post with these questions:
If the little child has come, and shall lead us, did we simply not follow? Did we miss our chance? Did we get lost along the parade route and never realize the party broke up? ‘Tis the season to dream big dreams and hope big hopes. But the hardest question remains: Why is the earth not yet filled with the knowledge of the Lord?As much as I often find myself focusing on my own issues of "why not now?" My deepest most honest question this advent is: "When will the world see true redemption?"
With the start of the last month of what has been a killer hard year I am excited. I am excited to see how 2010 closes itself out, with parties, concerts, time off from work, a fabulous stay-cation, some serious house decorating, and time to remember the birth of our Savior. I am excited to spend some time remembering what I am really waiting for is ahead. Yes, on January first I get to put the mess of 2010 behind me (at least figuratively) but I also get to look back on a year of incredible growth and rebirth; a year of gentle whispers from a God that loves me; a year of being honest with God about how abandoned and betrayed I feel; a year of recognizing my need for relationship and love, as well as my need for redemption. In the next month I hope that I finish well, I hope to lean into the waiting and trust that there is so much more ahead. Redemption is a slow and beautiful process, and even if it has already been 2000 plus years of waiting, rescue is coming.
Rejoice.
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