Advent: A Calendar of Devotions 2020 (Pkg of 10). Jenny Smith

Advent, what might it feel like to be incredibly honest with God? In these quiet moments of your day, I urge you to whisper, write, sing, or speak your true feelings. Let God have it! All of it. God can handle it. I wonder if God even delights in our utterly unvarnished truth, mess and all. Maybe your truth-telling will lead to healing this Advent. Our awareness is an important step on the journey to welcome Jesus anew.

      Closing Practice: Write a brutally honest prayer to God.

      Wednesday, December 2

       Let your hand be with the one on your right side—

       with the one whom you secured as your own—

       then we will not turn away from you!

      Revive us so that we can call on your name.

       Restore us, LORD God of heavenly forces!

       Make your face shine so that we can be saved!

      —Psalm 80:17-19

      What phrase or word caught your attention from the reading for today? Revive us leapt off the page to me. It highlights two steps involved this Advent season. First, we’re imploring God to revive us for a purpose—not just so we can be happy and at peace in our own little world. This work is being done for a larger reason. Second, we long for the Divine to restore us to wholeness, to salvation. We’re desperate to be rescued, made whole, and brought to the fullness of who we are in Christ.

      How might these steps unfold in your life this Advent? Is there a tradition you love this time of year that you could repurpose to make room for reviving and rescue?

      I love the day we decide to decorate our Christmas tree. My husband drags out all the boxes, and I clap my hands with joy as our children and I unpack ornaments and decorations we haven’t seen in eleven months. We ooh and ahh over each one. We play Amy Grant’s Christmas music, and I relive my childhood years. When all is in place, we continue with one of my family’s traditions: one of the kids is lifted to place the angel delicately on the top of the tree.

      As beautiful as all this is, my favorite part is the next morning. I tiptoe downstairs, turn on the tree lights, and settle into a chair by the tree. I breathe deeply of the anticipation of the season. I listen for God’s leading in my life. I share my frustration and fear. These quiet moments revive me. God reminds me of my identity as a child of the Creator of the Universe. And when God revives me, it’s for a purpose. I’m not revived simply so I can get all the things done this month that shout my name. No, I am revived so that I can welcome the Beloved Community in our midst.

      This season, we’re invited to receive the work of revival and restoration so that we can fully lean on Jesus at every turn.

       Closing Practice: Add a moment of revival and restoration to a favorite Advent tradition today. How might it shift your experience of long-held traditions?

      Thursday, December 3

       Grace to you and peace from God our

      Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

      I thank my God always for you, because of God’s grace that was given to you in Christ Jesus. That is, you were made rich through him in everything: in all your communication and every kind of knowledge, in the same way that the testimony about Christ was confirmed with you. The result is that you aren’t missing any spiritual gift while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also confirm your testimony about Christ until the end so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, and you were called by him to partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

      —1 Corinthians 1:3-9

      Our family recently went through a season of financial belt tightening. We discerned it would benefit us in many ways if we kept a closer eye on our purchases and monthly budget. At first, I thought it would feel like a burden. But I was surprised by how freeing it felt to bring mindfulness to our money. I found myself more thankful for the money coming in and certainly more aware of where it went out. I realized at a more conscious level that we had less money than I thought and needed to be intentional with it. Somehow in the act of less, I felt rich.

      How is God’s grace making you rich in all things this season? Maybe you have an abundance of something this season like time, friendships, parties, or gifts to give. How might you show gratitude for these opportunities to celebrate as you wait for Jesus’ arrival?

      Or maybe there is an area of lack in your life this Advent. Loneliness, debt, depression, or exhaustion may feel all too real lately.

      Verse 7 reminds us, “The result is that you aren’t missing any spiritual gift while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” It first appears entirely backward that we could be rich in the waiting. Generally, we wait for something we have yet to receive. But somehow, in the beloved community of God, we wait for the fullness of Christ among us, and we’re already rich in everything. This Advent, I wonder where you’ll sense that anew.

      Closing Prayer: God, help me see what I have through new eyes. Show me your abundance while I wait for you this season.