The Paceline

2017: the year of the first advent calendar for Maggie, Sabine, and Zadie. The joyful anticipation of what surprise was “behind the door” for the next day.

Advent Season? The joy of children everywhere waiting for Christmas. Waiting to see what new toys were under the tree on Christmas morning. Maybe getting to open one present on Christmas Eve.

It was my joy as a child – reading the countdown calendar each December morning in the comics section of The Dallas Morning News. Waiting wasn’t easy, but those sweet memories bring a smile of my anticipation. Maybe it was my first lesson in delayed gratification. Often a hard lesson for kids to learn. Some never do.

In this century in this country in homes of most people, the anticipation is over getting new stuff – even for those who cannot afford much new stuff. Many of the poorest are blessed by the amazing Angel Tree efforts of The Salvation Army.

But all that cool stuff gets in the way of the true meaning of “advent.” It’s an old English word derived from Latin “adventus” meaning ‘arrival,’ and from the combo “advenire” (ad: ‘to’ + venire: ‘come’).

So are we coming or going during advent? Our culture will have us believe it’s all about us and the arrival of our cool, new toys. It’s not. It’s about new babies that change everything around them. Doubt that? Ask ANY new parents if their lives changed after the arrival of their newborn.

But it’s especially about Jesus, the one new baby who changed everything for everyone. Like it or not. Agree with it or not. The baby Jesus has affected the world like no other. The Advent Season is about Jesus coming into a dark world two thousand years ago and the anticipation that He will return again.

When you’re lost in the woods, alone in the city, floundering in the deep end, or deeply troubled in your world – you’re looking for someone to save you. Admit it. You cannot do it yourself.

Paraphrasing Jack Miller’s devotional for December 23rd: “So into the real world comes a real Savior leading you through real problems and empowering you to master the self-induced problems that are too much for you.

“This isn’t great news if all you need is a nudge, if you have most of the strength you need and all you want is for the Lord to prop you up a bit. If that’s your religion, then you don’t need a Savior.

“But the angels come – in the ultimate Advent calendar – with this glorious message to those who have the deepest needs of the soul, to those who have an independent spirit and a willful heart. To those who want their own way, not God’s way, and who have made a mess of their lives. To those people, the angel announces wonderful news. In the town of David the Savior has been born, the Christ, God has come in the flesh. He has come to do what no one else can—to change hearts and to change lives.”

Anticipate that arrival.