Typically I'm a hum-buggy kind of girl. I'm a cheap-skate, and the commercialism is cuckoo. I want to give, give, give but really I'm a save, save, saver. I love to volunteer, but the perceived obligations (food banks, soup kitchens, adopt-a-family, snowflakes for seniors, perks for the garbage guy, the mail lady, the bus drivers, the teachers, the co-workers, the bosses) overwhelm me. I worry about everyone's expectations, and get my own expectations all twisted up in the mean time. Ick.
Somehow, this month's positivity is actually winning over all of that. I know, it's early. But today I read this insightful and moving post by Rob Bell (via my friend, Tim Burkey). He talks about how the church sets aside seasons for breaking up our tendancy toward monotony or being overwhelmed, to focus our attention and hearts.
The life of the spirit is a dynamic reality, taking us through a myriad of emotions, experiences and states of being. What the church calendar does is create space for Jesus to meet us in the full range of human experience, for God to speak to us across the spectrum, in the good and the bad, in the joy and in the tears.
And Advent, the season leading up to celebrating Christ's birth, is about expectation and deep longing for what's to come. Because something is missing in this world. Something isn't right. Advent confronts our cynicism about getting our hopes up, our chronic expectation of betrayal, and whispers, A better day is coming...
So, while part of me suspects I'm ahead of the game because I have to split holiday time with ex's and celebrate whenever we can, I find I'm a little hopeful in my heart. Because I heard a soft promise that what is "not yet" will be worth it.
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