Within Sacred Space and Time

It take a lot of stamina to write something for each night of Advent. But it is also my natural response to what I see, hear and read around me. As much as I want to prepare for this season each year, the steam-roller of those 24 days always sneaks up on me. I have so many good things I want to read and listen, fodder for my own thoughts, but sometimes all I am able to write is what the Holy Spirit inspires as my fingers plod across my keyboard.

On nights like tonight when I am tired and don’t want to plunge into another article or list of poems, I find myself thinking about the two millennium’s worth of people just like me who have sat and contemplated the miracle of Christ’s birth.

Only the Word made flesh could possibly hold so much mystery in one tiny body. Only the Son of God could move galaxies, peasants, and empires to align. Only the Prince of Peace could bring a message that transcends human error and expectation.

I am humbled by the magnitude of God’s plan. I am encouraged by the depth of His love. I am awed by the way he uses you and me, to share in this story which began two thousand years ago. No, back further still. Since the dawn of time. He has chosen to use the least of these, in order to show us just how very big and glorious He is.

I write during Advent to share this sacred season with all of you. But I also write for myself, to remember what I see and hear God doing in all these tiny moments that make up this world. Because right on the other side of this sacred space, are hardships, and fear, pain, and worry. Things that weigh us down about our jobs, our churches, our relationships, our neighbors. Even the dirty dishes piled high in the sink.

One of my favorite Christian inspirational writers, Lysa TerKeurst, penned these words in her book, Uninvited:

“So even as the closed doors and rejections seem more prevalent than the new opportunities you’d like to see, even as you’re seeking to readjust your thinking, remember that there is an abundant need in this world for your contributions to the kingdom . . . your thoughts and words and artistic expressions . . . your exact brand of beautiful” (p. 125).

That is why I write during Advent.