Open Heart and Open Soul
How Advent liberates us from our busyness
My wife Joy and I gave Advent calendars to our grandchildren this year. The calendars contain chocolate behind numbered doors that mark the days of December. Each day the children will open a door to find the candy inside.
It occurred to me later that maybe those calendars weren’t such a great idea. Oh, giving them chocolate is no big deal. Besides, the candy comes along with a little scripture passage that the parents can read to the kids each day.
The problem is that the calendar’s design might suggest that Advent is just a countdown to Christmas. It could leave the impression that the season is a sort of dead time. We need a chocolaty distraction to help us endure it. We’ll be ever so relieved when it’s finally over and what we really want has finally arrived.
Advent is certainly about waiting. But Advent waiting is not a countdown. It’s a spiritual practice that can liberate us from the tyranny of our busyness.
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