It's Advent!!

"Gaze on shoots of glory to grow deep roots in God." - Ann Voskamp

Hello December!

Welcome Advent!

I'm glad you're back.

Advent to me equals Ann Voskamp and her delightful book, "The Greatest Gift."

Today is December 1 and it all starts today. I'm pumped. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. I feel at peace with some happy and excitement mixed in. But there it is, as soon as I put those feelings into words I hear, "careful, don't be too happy, something bad will happen, good things usually come to a tragic end."

Those types of thoughts go hand-in-hand with the story I've lived but today I'm choosing to ignore the whisper of dread and reach for the Christmas excitement. Perhaps it is possible to hold onto both in a way that honors the story I've lived and the story that I am currently living.

Isaiah says, "out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot" (Isaiah 11:1). Ann Voskamp reminds us that Christ comes small, like a shoot and whispers, "seek me", just where you are.

And so today I shall seek. Today I choose to gaze on shoots of glory and the "small glimpses of God-glory breaking in, breaking out, sprouting, shooting, unfurling, bearing fruit, making a Kingdom, remaking the world." (Ann V)

"Advent, it is made of the moments.

This slow unfurling of grace." - Ann Voskamp