The season of Advent encompasses the four weeks prior to Christmas. A wreath with five candles is often used to focus us on a different aspect of the season each week; hope, faith, joy, peace, followed by the birth of Jesus.
But, how do we celebrate the season considering all we have experienced this year? This has been a very rough year for many of us. People have lost loved ones, jobs, and are struggling through schooling at home. For me, I have watched my dear husband courageously battle a serious cancer diagnosis. It has been heartbreaking.
It would be very tempting to ignore Christmas all together; the shopping for presents, the decorations, the Christmas cards, and the gatherings. The pandemic has already robbed us of much of the celebrating. But… Christmas will still arrive without all of those things. This year more than ever before, I am aware of the need to embrace the heart of the season. In the brokenness, we need hope, faith, joy and peace. We need Jesus.
I pray that hope, faith, joy and peace would be yours this season.
Have a blessed holiday.
Carol Marchant Gibbs