Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Isn’t there a sweet sense of peace when pure, fresh, deep snow has fallen and the world outside is hushed? At least until the shoveling and snowblowing begins, all is calm, all is bright.
As we enter into this Advent season, I pray all families will experience peace like that and embrace a more peaceful pace this year.
The purpose of the Advent season is not just a countdown until Santa Claus comes. It is meant to carry a spiritual focus of expectation and anticipation for the first coming of the Messiah. Imagine living before Jesus came. “Long lay the world, in sin and error pining…till He appeared!” Jesus came not to provide for us materially, but to provide for us spiritually. In Him we find all of our deepest longings and truest needs completely fulfilled.
Advent is furthermore a time to reflect on the powerful hope that we have of a second coming of our Messiah King! We anticipate the time He will fully restore all things, defeat our greatest enemies and establish His enduring peaceful kingdom. Every sin and enemy of our flesh that we experience will be vanquished. Every sin from boasting to bitterness to betrayal. Every trial from the common cold to cancer to every other catastrophe that can occur will once and for all be crushed under the rule of our Prince of Peace.
If your family is looking for a helpful Advent resource, there’s a really amazing Advent storybook for families with children at home that I would love to recommend to you today. It’s called Promises Made, Promises Kept.
However, you choose to mark off this Advent season, I pray that you keep your eyes fixed each day on Jesus and experience His hope and peace and joy and love in new and powerful ways this year.