The Abundance of Advent #1
“What we do with the gap between expectation and reality holds the key to our joy this Christmas.”
The closer we get to the end of this year gone wild, the more we realize what we have lost living through a global pandemic. We are understanding that there is just not enough time to recoup and reimagine the dreams we set out to pursue at the beginning of this year.
We are figuring out how to gather with family from a distance virtually on squared screens, while looking at blank December calendar squares that a short year ago were filed with holiday celebrations, gatherings, concerts and good cheer.
It all seems so empty in comparison. It is easy to feel that somehow we have lost more than we bargained for.
I am experiencing personally the sense of needing to readjust my expectations and feel the increasing waves of disappointment pulsating through my veins. My daughter and her family are in another province under lockdown and the growing realization that we will not see them, especially my two toddler grandsons, is settling like a rock in the middle of my heart.
It is hard not to focus on what could have been and what should have been, but will not be. What we do with the gap between expectation and reality holds the key to our joy this Christmas.
Advent reminds us that we are called to live the life Jesus promised us – the abundant life.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
We all have a choice to focus on what has been stolen or destroyed completely, OR to embrace the abundant life we have already been given.
How are taking hold of what you have already been given?
Advent, the final season of a tumultuous year, brings with it the promise of abundance again…
Advent reminds us that what we have waited for all year and all of our lives as the answer to all of our longings and expectations, has already been given to us in the form of a tiny baby.
We tend to have three responses in this final month of the year:
We live as if our glass is half empty and try to fill what we have lost with meaningless pursuits.
Some pursuits during a pandemic are survival tactics – learning a new skill like knitting or playing the piano for instance. Or we are going overboard trying to fill the void with things we think we need. Shopping online is a big one for so many of us! But some pursuits are distractors only and don’t build on our purpose and destiny. We are trying to fill our half-empty containers with something and the filter we normally use to determine if it is good for us is removed.
We live as if we never had a glass in the first place.
We are empty and have lost our way entirely. We are numb to the opportunities to reimagine the future and the seanse of meaninglessness has triggered a bigger ‘aha’ moment. We know we haven’t dealt things that were simmering below the surface before the pandemic even appeared in our world. This is the time to pay attention to the numbness and seek help from a trusted friend, or professional. This is the time to reawaken to the hope that God is calling you to and to process the ruins with His guidance. This is the time to rebuild the God-given container that is your heart.
We live in the fullness of the abundant life we have already been promised, and already received if only we would embrace it.
We are full of communion bread and wine of the body of Christ who lives in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. The inner life is a deep well from which life-giving water springs forth. This life of abundance cannot be stolen from us in a pandemic. Rather our understanding is enriched because we know the source of life and joy is not dependant on our circumstances.
What are you filling your life with in place of the abundant life?
It is only the abundant life that can carry the weight of destiny woven into you at birth. Will you embrace Advent as the season to receive all that has already been deposited in you and live like you believe it?
You have not lost anything that the Light of the World has restored, is restoring and will restore to you beyond what you can ask or imagine.
Will you choose to live in the abundance of Advent?
I believe in you.
Cathie