A Thrill of Hope

-

Disappointed is the word I would initially use to describe our fall garden. It looks kind of sad, nowhere near as vibrant and active as our summer garden. Some crops really didn’t do well, while others crops have just been taking their time. 

Doesn’t that seem to follow the pattern of our own lives? Summer and Spring are full of fun and adventure, and Fall and Winter are times to slow down, turn inward, and become more reflective. I think life is supposed to be that way. Times where we grow fast and times where we grow slow, and maybe even lie dormant. 

Every year in my adulthood, I approach Advent with such excitement. I am filled with hope and awe of the season. Last year, being a new mother, Advent had such new meaning to me. I had a different understanding of the season through Mary’s eyes. The excitement and fear of welcoming a baby into the unknown world. The nerves and giddiness of finally being able to look at my child’s face. 
This year is no different. I am approaching Advent with a deep sense of hope, expectation, and peace. I’ve been praying and singing this line from “Oh, Holy Night” lately: “A thrill of Hope, the weary 
world rejoices.”



I know that approaching Advent and Christmas during a pandemic is difficult. We feel the weight of loneliness as we remain separated from our loved ones. We feel the disappointment of the world still breaking. We feel tired from having to keep our guard up. We feel sad as we watch those we know and love struggle with the virus itself.

At times it often feels like maybe we will never be normal again. Will peace reign? Will joy sustain? Is there even a point of having hope?

This excerpt from Reed of God explains how Advent can feel dark in the midst of such joy:

“There must be a period of gestation before anything can flower. If only those who suffer would be patient with their early humiliations and realize that Advent is not only the time of growth but also of darkness and hiding and waiting, they would trust, and trust rightly, that Christ is growing in their sorrow, and in due season all the fret and strain and tension of it will give place to a splendor of peace.”

Everything grows, but some things just may grow quietly. 

I think that’s what this line of the song refers to, it’s just “thrill” – a sudden feeling of excitement and pleasure. It’s not a sustained feeling, it’s just for a moment. For me, that’s a very realistic feeling during this time. As we wade through our feelings that maybe aren’t so positive during this time, we cling to a little thrill. I’m sure Mary felt the same way on her journey to Bethlehem. Tired, swollen, anxious, but then she’d remember her “why” and that thrill would wash over her and get her to the next moment.

“Moment by moment” has become my mantra for motherhood and my mantra for life. 

All of these reflections lately have reminded me of one my favorite scriptures, which I have shared before, and I’d like to share it again. 

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace. 
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8


The time is now for Advent.
For Slow Faith. 
For Growth.
For A Thrill of Hope. 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Standing in the Sun

-
Image
   Have you ever thought about how important the sun is? I’ve always loved the warmth of the sun on my skin. I love the “golden hour,” where the sun hits so perfectly on the Earth and makes things beautiful. The sun provides so many good thi ngs for us, but really until we planted our garden this year, I’ve never taken the time to think about how truly important the sun is for the Earth.   Don’t worry, I’m not about to give a lesson on photosynthesis.  (But Amelia can tell you about it, her shirt taught her!) One of our little blunders in our garden was that we definitely overcrowded one of our beds and our peppers got “leggy,” meaning they had to grow taller than normal in order to seek the sun. We kept a seedling in our window when we couldn’t seem to get our basil growing well outside. We loved watching it grow toward the sun. We’d turn it the other direction, just to watch it shift directions back towards the window. It was as if it was reaching out for more. ...
Read more

Create.

-
Image
While we wanted to tie this difficult year up in a pink or blue bow, announcing our pregnancy at Christmastime, plans changed as we were dealing with our second miscarriage.  What a year this has been. There are moments in this year that will shine brightly, but for me, this has been a year of lament, and 2021, at least the beginning of it, will continue in that spirit. Lament is a difficult season for Christians to be in – we don’t like to feel bad for long – but I know that God is going to do something in our lives if we open the doors and create the space. If we create the space. Every year I choose a word of the year. Something to work towards, strive for, aspire to.    My word of the year for 2020 was “grace.” I wanted to feel God’s grace in my life. I wanted to have grace for myself. I wanted to have grace for people in my life. Little did we know, 2020 would need a lot of grace. I learned a lot about myself through the process of receiving, having, and giving grac...
Read more

Maternal Mental Health Week

-
Image
“I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enameled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord's living garden.”  --St. Thérèse de Lisieux This week is Maternal Mental Health week, a week dedicated to bringing awareness to the ever-present issue of a mother’s wellbeing. It seems strange to have a week dedicated to an issue that feels so pervasive in my own life and the life of many women. Before COVID, 21 % of those who gave birth will have a mood disorder during the perinatal period and that number jumps to over 30% for women of color ( statistics from mindbodybabync.org ). I’m sure those numbers are climbing since the pandemic ( see this article for more on that  click here ) Through my involvement with Mindbodyb...
Read more