Waiting for the Light

This, this is the season of waiting.  Advent.  I adore this season.  The time of the year where the world seems to quiet in anticipation.  People are close.  Yet there is a strange dichotomy of bustling about, busyness and the incessant list making commercialism.  A stark contrast to the stillness of waiting.  Wondering when.  Listening.  Just how do the two coexist?  I will tell you they are both alive and well and within me.  A constant tug of rope between.  Which side usually wins?   It's a toss up these days.  I have been redefining the waiting season for myself.  Preparing my heart for the Savior King.  The night love came down.  Reflecting and analyzing the to do list.  Not for sake of efficiency or anything like that but so I give myself permission to choose that which brings joy.  The kind of rejoicing that is active and stems from a source not seen.  That is what I want more of this Advent season.  A heart which easily gives because it's not clouded with the unimportant.
And I pray that it be so.

I pray that it is so because the light always trumps the darkness.  And this light we are all waiting for, whether we know it or not, is coming in the form of a baby in a manger.  Humble beginnings.  Not so humble promises.  One being that those that walk with Him will NEVER, yes He said never, walk in darkness.  In John 8:12 Jesus says to the people, "I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life".  Let's not miss the irony here friends.  Jesus was speaking to the people right after the Feast of the Tabernacles.  They had celebrated on the mountain top and had walked down into the pitch black of night with their dimly lit candles.  Attention being drawn to the power their light had in guiding them.  Trying to make their way.  With help from the light.  See, irony is never lost on Jesus.  Jesus came to be our light.  The one that always shines and NEVER allows the darkness to triumph.   Here's what I need to remember this waiting season.  There are dark crevices in my heart.  You know, the stuff you never want to say out loud.  The secrets that might make you cringe in shame if ever repeated, if someone knew.  Well Jesus knows.  And He came just for that.  To be the light in the darkness.  He alone can shine light into those places where shame and doubt and fear and self loathing reside.  And He does it all for grace upon grace.  No condemnation.  He came for that and in spite of that.  What other light has that power?  

This Advent as we all search for the light let's recall the promise of His coming.  When darkness can feel so strong and the conflict rages allow the light to shine within.  The darkness we speak of surrounds daily, different for everyone.  Some like me, feel it in the busyness, others in the commercialism, the struggle to stay afloat, in hurt without family, lack of finances, you name the darkness and the one that brings it and then claim the light for your own.  That is our anthem this actively waiting season.  Present.  Hope.  Peace.  Light.  Allow the twinkly lights to mesmerize you without the guilt that nothing is getting done.  Really.  And then wait.  Wait for Christmas morning.  And remember that love incarnate was born and the world has not been the same ever since.  Thankfully friends, neither have we.

"Our darkness may be thick, but it is FOREVER transformed by the brightness of Christ".
Amanda Williams, She Reads Truth




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