Tweet…tweet…tweet…bird chirping…crickets singing…is this what you’ve been hearing from my blog this past week? Silence? 🙂
For the first time in …oh…YEARS I will say that I am fully enjoying the ‘present’ moment of Advent. The wait. I am caught up on gifts (thanks to the internet!), caught up on wrapping, caught up and even trying tie odds and ends to projects that I wanted finished before the New Year. Yes, despise me, it’s okay, I give you permission. 🙂
Now when friends come over or the young adults that I ministered to in their teen years (who are now all graduating college and beginning adult lives) come over to visit I do not feel a panic of the time I spend with them vs. the time I spend with my family because I am doing BOTH.
The gift God has given me this Christmas is the gift of being present. I am being present to my family, to my friends and to my God. This is my excuse for not writing a blog. However, from the sweet notes and messages I receive from many of you I gather you will not hold this against me.
Thank you. 🙂
Now with that said, please don’t assume that just because I’m caught up that life is roasted marshmallows and hot chocolate. Unfortunately there are many prayers that I am saying at this time for various family members, one which is for my Uncle Garnet whose body doesn’t want to hold up and carry that big heart of his. And prayers for my Aunt Ticki, his wife, who is caring for and watching the man she has adored for over 50 years simply fade. She is being present to Uncle Garnet and I pray she feels God’s strength.
Prayers are also going out to my adopted sister, Lena, she was a foreign exchange student from Brazil that lived with us my entire 8th grade year who came back to the states about 10 years ago and became a citizen and truly a full member of our family. Lena flew to Brazil to be with her family for Christmas and just after she landed and before she could reach her family her father passed away. She wanted to be present for her father when he passed but instead she has the gift of being present for her family as they grieve their loss and celebrate his life.
And for my brother…who will only allow me to be present for him in prayer, and even that is debatable.
Christmas parties, caroling, gift buying and wrapping, and cookie baking …we rush these traditions in at the last minute to get into the Christmas spirit but the world does not stop. We will still grieve loss, and we will still feel anger, resentment and frustration but what Advent teaches is not only the gift in waiting but to be present in the moment and to be ready to see His glory when you least expect it.
I add this prayer to my list – for all of us to be present, even in the ugly, and to embrace the gift of hope that lies in wait as we become still.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ~ Colossians 1:17
Blessings
Shannon