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From Soul Nourishing Resources, to Event Re-Caps, Musings, Teachings, and more, The Blog is an abundant source of inspiration and information for you to explore.
Guide For A Simple Advent
A simple advent.
Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
In a world with overflowing inboxes that grow exponentially by the day as Christmas creeps closer, as to-do lists become longer and longer, as all your calendar space fills to the brim with every possible moment scheduled out, the idea of a ‘simple’ advent can feel like the deep exhale of release we crave…
What is a simple advent?
The idea of ‘doing what you can, with what you have, where you’re at’ can apply to many things and, in this case, this is the framework for a simple advent. You don’t ‘need’ anything new; you don’t need a fancy, ‘advent’ specific book or bible study; you don’t ‘need’ a specific notebook or pens; you don’t ‘need’ any new tools or materials. Instead of looking for ‘new’ to satisfy the advent season (especially in a world that tells us the ‘new’ is designed to satisfy in ways nothing else ever has before!), we ask ourselves, ‘what would actually be most soul-nourishing during the season of Advent?’.
Advent Traditions: Embodied Advent
Advent was one of the first seasons of the church calendar I found myself actively, intentionally engaging with. I remember when I ordered my very first Advent study guide from She Reads Truth and how excited I was to engage with the Christmas season in a new way. When the box arrived, I hadn’t just purchase a study book for myself, but I purchased a few to gift to friends who I thought would also love engaging in the season in this way.
Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room
The season is full of magic and wonder and we can feel drawn into the hustle and bustle that makes it feel like we’re swept up in the dance of holiday momentum. The simple act of putting up a Christmas tree quickly turns into baking cookies which turns into hosting a gathering and finding fun holiday events to take part in and, before you know it, Christmas Eve arrives and there can be the thought of `wow, it’s already here!’. How quickly it can seem to slip through our hands as we did it all without being truly present to it all.
Journey of Light
As I write this post I am seated in our living room on the couch across from our large window where snowflakes are gently falling in steady streams. It's already beginning to darken outside, even though it's only just after four in the afternoon. The Christmas tree is aglow and filled ornaments that have been gifted from friends and family throughout the years. On our bookshelf are DIY porcelain trees with stars shapes illuminated by a strand of mini lights. As it continues to darken more and more, I am drawn to the ways the light of the various trees gives off a warmth, inviting me to linger here a little longer before running off to the next task to bathe in their glow.
Love + Light
When I first started dreaming up a Christmas class for 2020, I had imagined gathering in person, perhaps around the warmth of a fireplace, soft white lights glowing while the smell of mulled apple cider danced through the room. It was ideas of praying for each other while doing an ornament exchange and moving and breathing in unison while being physically distanced as protocols called for. As restrictions changed I changed what I thought would be possible until the reality set in-- to host a Christmas experience would be to do so virtually.