(Written and first shared during Advent 2020)
As we enter into the season of Advent, let us remember that it is not only a time of nostalgia surrounding the baby Jesus, but a season for inward reflection on how we relate to the risen Christ, within ourselves and within our lives.
Learning to abide in hope is often a process of purification. The relinquishing of control is an arduous journey which, if we allow it, changes us and awakens us to a higher level of consciousness as our false self burns away, our true self shining ever-brighter.
Hope is believing in what is yet to be. It’s a deep knowing in the soul that all will be well though we know not what the future holds. Hope is trusting in something greater than ourselves; it’s letting go of the need to know the outcome.
On this first Sunday of Advent, as we light the candle of hope; as we wait, in expectation, for the birth of the Christ child, let us also be active in seeking the risen Christ in our hearts and in our world.
May our hope be restored. May we have pure hearts and minds as we journey forward, and may we be changed.
How are you being ushered into hope this season?
A blessing:
That you would be open to the gift of hope.
That hope would expand the path before you.
That your path would follow the living Christ.
That Christ, the Incarnate Word, would dwell in your heart this Advent and always.