Advent...anyone else feel a little behind on this topic? I have heard of Advent over the years. Pastors preach on the subject during the Christmas season talking about the arrival of a baby who would change everything. But I never felt connected to advent. I kind of felt like I was on the outside forcing myself into the cool crowd of which I did not belong.
I have heard two podcasts over the past two days about advent. Both interviewees were authors of some sort of advent study. I listened hungry to learn more. Advent and Lent have both felt foreign to me even though I am a believer. In the beginning, I always equated Lent with Catholics and Ash Wednesday. Advent was just that time between Thanksgiving and Christmas; a time of waiting for the day we remember Jesus' birth.
And then I had a dream.
Bear with me and my crazy dream. Let me just say that I couldn't fall asleep two nights ago. I started praying for everyone and everything under the sun and asked God to show me Himself in my dreams. And then this happened.
I dreamed that I was in my kitchen with the garage door open. The boys were playing outside and I was making dinner. I would walk outside occasionally to check on the kids. The neighbors were also outside. Some on the other side of the street. While others were on our side. I checked on the boys and came back inside to finish up in the kitchen. It was then that I heard a loud crash and the gasp of my neighbors. I walked outside to see two planes had collided in midair way up high. As we all looked up to see the crash, two clouds started to part from one another revealing words. It was night so the sky was dark. The words began to scroll in the font and way the words scroll on the screen as Star Wars begins. Y'all, I cannot make this up. I think the boy mom thing is really getting to me. I am now dreaming about God in boy fashion.
Anyway, the words start scrolling (Unfortunately, there was no Star Wars music accompanying the message.) telling of Jesus' second coming. I don't remember the exact words, I just remember thinking, "This is it." And then my alarm went off.
I went about my morning getting the boys ready and off to school. I told my husband about my crazy dream and then hopped in my car to go the gym and on errands laughing at myself and my wild imagination. I turned on my podcast and it was about advent. That's when I made the connection. Yes, my friends, I connected advent to my crazy Star Wars Jesus' second coming dream.
Advent is a season of waiting. Think anxious anticipation. I think the reason I don't necessarily feel a connectedness to advent is because I didn't live it; or, let me say, I live it everyday. I know the backside of the story. I know the end. Jesus was born so he could die. He died so I may live. This is something I live every single day of my life. Advent is no different for me than a Tuesday in February. But then I had this crazy dream.
I asked God to show me Himself in my dreams and He did. He showed me that I am living in advent. All those people of the Bible who were waiting for their Messiah had their advent season and I have mine. I am waiting for the coming of Christ just as they did. Ours just looks a little different. They were eagerly anticipating the arrival of their Messiah whom they did not know. I am urgently awaiting a Savior I know but have never seen. Advent came alive to me in a dream that incorporated Star Wars. Don't tell me God won't use crazy things to get our attention.
I think my issue with advent was that it wasn't alive for me. Advent was a thing you do because it's the season to do it and it's what you do if you are a Christian. Realizing that I am in the same state of eager anticipation as those beautiful people of the Old Testament brings advent to life for me. It gives this season that much more meaning and depth.
When you look up "eagerly await" in the dictionary it means: "showing urgent desire; awake; thirstily." I feel all these things when I think about the second coming of Christ. I have an urgent desire to see Him rectify this earth. I am wide awake in anticipation of His coming and I am so very thirty for His presence to adorn Itself on this planet.
It took a crazy silly dream for advent to come alive for me this year. No longer is this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas a place for going through the motions. Not anymore. This season is alive to me; it has breath. Advent is very much real for me as it was for those who eagerly awaited their Messiah all those years ago. Advent is a place of remembrance for me remembering Christ was born so He may have a physical body that would be crucified for my salvation. This is something I meditate on every day of my life but it now has more life, more breadth, more depth because I, too, am in a season of advent as I await the return of our Savior.
I will commemorate this advent season celebrating the birth of a king in a manger as I eagerly anticipate His return.
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14
Love & Blessings,
Meg
I have heard two podcasts over the past two days about advent. Both interviewees were authors of some sort of advent study. I listened hungry to learn more. Advent and Lent have both felt foreign to me even though I am a believer. In the beginning, I always equated Lent with Catholics and Ash Wednesday. Advent was just that time between Thanksgiving and Christmas; a time of waiting for the day we remember Jesus' birth.
And then I had a dream.
Bear with me and my crazy dream. Let me just say that I couldn't fall asleep two nights ago. I started praying for everyone and everything under the sun and asked God to show me Himself in my dreams. And then this happened.
I dreamed that I was in my kitchen with the garage door open. The boys were playing outside and I was making dinner. I would walk outside occasionally to check on the kids. The neighbors were also outside. Some on the other side of the street. While others were on our side. I checked on the boys and came back inside to finish up in the kitchen. It was then that I heard a loud crash and the gasp of my neighbors. I walked outside to see two planes had collided in midair way up high. As we all looked up to see the crash, two clouds started to part from one another revealing words. It was night so the sky was dark. The words began to scroll in the font and way the words scroll on the screen as Star Wars begins. Y'all, I cannot make this up. I think the boy mom thing is really getting to me. I am now dreaming about God in boy fashion.
Anyway, the words start scrolling (Unfortunately, there was no Star Wars music accompanying the message.) telling of Jesus' second coming. I don't remember the exact words, I just remember thinking, "This is it." And then my alarm went off.
I went about my morning getting the boys ready and off to school. I told my husband about my crazy dream and then hopped in my car to go the gym and on errands laughing at myself and my wild imagination. I turned on my podcast and it was about advent. That's when I made the connection. Yes, my friends, I connected advent to my crazy Star Wars Jesus' second coming dream.
Advent is a season of waiting. Think anxious anticipation. I think the reason I don't necessarily feel a connectedness to advent is because I didn't live it; or, let me say, I live it everyday. I know the backside of the story. I know the end. Jesus was born so he could die. He died so I may live. This is something I live every single day of my life. Advent is no different for me than a Tuesday in February. But then I had this crazy dream.
I asked God to show me Himself in my dreams and He did. He showed me that I am living in advent. All those people of the Bible who were waiting for their Messiah had their advent season and I have mine. I am waiting for the coming of Christ just as they did. Ours just looks a little different. They were eagerly anticipating the arrival of their Messiah whom they did not know. I am urgently awaiting a Savior I know but have never seen. Advent came alive to me in a dream that incorporated Star Wars. Don't tell me God won't use crazy things to get our attention.
I think my issue with advent was that it wasn't alive for me. Advent was a thing you do because it's the season to do it and it's what you do if you are a Christian. Realizing that I am in the same state of eager anticipation as those beautiful people of the Old Testament brings advent to life for me. It gives this season that much more meaning and depth.
When you look up "eagerly await" in the dictionary it means: "showing urgent desire; awake; thirstily." I feel all these things when I think about the second coming of Christ. I have an urgent desire to see Him rectify this earth. I am wide awake in anticipation of His coming and I am so very thirty for His presence to adorn Itself on this planet.
It took a crazy silly dream for advent to come alive for me this year. No longer is this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas a place for going through the motions. Not anymore. This season is alive to me; it has breath. Advent is very much real for me as it was for those who eagerly awaited their Messiah all those years ago. Advent is a place of remembrance for me remembering Christ was born so He may have a physical body that would be crucified for my salvation. This is something I meditate on every day of my life but it now has more life, more breadth, more depth because I, too, am in a season of advent as I await the return of our Savior.
I will commemorate this advent season celebrating the birth of a king in a manger as I eagerly anticipate His return.
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14
Love & Blessings,
Meg
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