Hope

It's the first Sunday in Advent.  It's hard not to think of this time as "Christmas Season", but officially it's "Advent Season."  (Or should that be Advent Time?  Does it really matter?)  What it really means for me is that I should (and hopefully will) wear more of my favorite color:  purple.  Purple or sometimes blue (which is a runner up when it comes to favorite colors) is the color of Advent.

As far as I know (and I'll admit I'm not the most learned person when it comes to Advent), each of the four Sundays in Advent represent a theme:  Hope, Peace, Joy and Love (respectively).

Hope.  What do I hope for this advent?  I hope for all the things that the following Sundays will bring:  Peace (not just for the world, but for my own inner kind), Joy (in my life and all of those who I love), and (continued) Love.  To bring it down to a more personal level, I hope that this season will be peaceful with bring the end of the drama and stress that has been infiltrating my life for the past several months.  (With my father back in the hospital and about to undergo surgery, the stress level is rather high.  I hope that the medical professionals attending to him are focused and up to the task that is ahead). 

On a more spiritual level, I hope that this season I will not forget the joy that Christmas is supposed to be all about and that I take the time to enJOY all that the holiday has to offer.  And I hope that I allow myself to love (both give and receive).  All sound relatively easy, but knowing me, they won't be.  I know myself and I KNOW that I will get caught up in the "chaos" of the season and put the true meaning of the holiday on the back burner.


Blogging about Advent will HOPEfully make me focus on what it is truly about.  As I've been told, Advent meaning coming.  We are waiting for the birth of/the coming of Christ (and, in all honestly, we are waiting for Santa Claus to make his annual rounds).  We are waiting for Christmas. This year I am waiting with Hope.  I will wait with Peace in my heart.  I will feel the Joy.  And I will allow the Love that comes at Christmas to fill me throughout the season and the year.









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