Updated: I was just about to push the publish button when my mother called to tell me that my Grandmother has been diagnosed with three brain tumors. The largest is the size of a fist. She is 83.
Today is the first Sunday of the 2008 Advent Season.
The word "advent" is not something that I grew up hearing a whole lot in a Christian home and Baptist Church. It was simply, Christmas. The celebration of Jesus' birth. However, a few years ago, I did a little research on the advent season and it's meaning and I was greatly surprised that it's meaning and origin pretains to so much more than just the birth of Christ.
Advent has much to do with the preparation and anticipation of Christ's second coming. As Christians, our hope rests in the anticipation of a Messiah that will one day rule with peace, justice, and righteousness. It is the joy that floods our souls upon knowing that we will be reunited with our loved ones again. God poured Himself into a babe in a manger so that the world would know of His great love and longing to reconcile His creation to Himself. First came the virgin birth and now we await His second arrival.
I'm excited about Christmas this year and not for any particuliar reason. There is a renewed spirit within me for what the season truly means: celebration and expectation.
I want to do things differently this year. I want to prepare my heart by means of enlarging it for whatever God has planned for me this Advent season. I want to spend time in His word daily and find renewed love for Him and His purposes. And sometimes that is so hard. My desires normally come first and I have a three year old. But for the next 31 days, I want to fully commit to doing things God's way and exalting Him above all else.
The verse that comes to my mind tonight is Isaiah 9:6, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Birth. Longing for redemption from an evil world. Anticipation of the second coming. Soon.
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