Waiting . . .

The Advent season is all about waiting . . . hope-filled waiting . . . expecting . . . looking forward to the celebration of His birth. It involves reflecting . . . remembering . . . but also basking in His presence today . . . for our Immanuel is with us this very moment! It's accepting and embracing His gifts of hope, peace, joy and love . . . for today . . . and tomorrow . . . and for eternity!

And so all the candles on our Advent wreath shone brightly today . . . and in the center stood the Christ candle reminding us that The Light of the World makes all these gifts possible . . . and that He should be the center of our focus during this beautiful holy season.

My favorite Christmas Scripture is not in the "Christmas story" but in John 1 . . . In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. How amazing!! But the best part of that passage - in my opinion - is verse 14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory . . . Can you wrap your mind and heart around that?!

God Himself became flesh . . . and so that means that He understands everything human . . . hurts and healings . . . tragedies and triumphs . . . the bad times and the good times . . . loneliness and fellowship. He understands. Because He chose to enter my world and yours and become one of us.

What a gift . . . what love! How can we not give Him ourselves anew this Christmas season? That's the best way we can say "Thank you" to Him for all His immeasurable, indescribable gifts!

Advent is about waiting . . . and just maybe He's waiting for us . . . to let go . . . to forgive . . . to love . . . to speak . . . to reach out . . . to shine our light in a dark corner . . . to really make a difference in 2011.