November 29, 2010

A Season Set Apart

Her head is bent, face hidden behind a curtain of curls. She stumbles over words, tough ones like Ephrathah. Yet she continues reading the Word of The One who will come. Then she reads about a Christmas tradition. We are reminded that we can find Christ in our celebration. He is everywhere, hidden beneath the boxes and bows, ornaments and obligations, food and festivities.  And I wonder if He willingly humbled Himself to this as He did to the manger and the cross.

She lights the first candle and my heart is set afire with hope. Hope that this season will be different. That we will look for Him more earnestly. That we will no longer relegate Him to the background, but celebrate Him more fully.

The candle burns brightly in the corner of our kitchen. It illuminates the Word and this year's Advent resource.  An ordinary kitchen table has been set apart for this season, an altar for the three of us to gather round each night in the dark quiet and prepare for the birth of our Immanuel.

How are you preparing for Him this season?  Leave a comment here to share, and visit Ann and Christmas Change (both must reads) to see how others are practicing Christmas.


holy experience



1 comment:

Becky said...

Melissa,

We love to stop and deliberate celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord; the way we do it is through studying what does it mean (theologically and practically).

We also do the Jesse Tree, which my little one enjoys so much; and every night after dinner we read from one of our two Advent readings.

A fun activity to do if you have little artistic hands is to to an A-Z Advent activity. You can see the one we made last year at my blog.

Blessings from Mexico.