Decorations. Yes, I have been pondering this again this year.
What to put up and what to not put up? Now, in my house we did decorate greatly for Christmas at one time. Such a time has passed. Some of that has to do with grief. Our oldest son dying on November 19th put a huge dent into our working with the cultural expectations of Christmas. These days, Pam's Parkinson's is limiting what we are doing as well. We still keep the beginning of Advent by setting up the Christmas tree. And I still like to put out some lights on the house. It is the visual reminder at this darkening time of year, about light coming into the world. I hear Isaiah 9:1 and 2 on several levels. More of that down below.
This time of year I find Hallmark to be especially present. No, not the spate of movies that come out again and again. Although, I know families that have a favoured practice this time of year. Once a week, they make popcorn and sit down for an evening to watch all the standard Christmas movie classics. One will stream the Hallmark series. Another has a rotation list of such movies as "Miracle on 34th Street", "White Christmas", "Christmas Vacation" (National Lampoon) and "A Christmas Carol" (the Black and White 1952 version). These are some of the things decorating our homes in this Advent season.
In Advent, there are the decorations of our interior, spiritual lives that need attention as well. Four weeks is not long. I will spend the season doing as I have done for years. Prayer and devotional time each morning. I get Daily Prayers from Pr. Bruce Ehlert during Advent. I use them with my online Daily Devotions that are from The Upper Room. This helps greatly in two ways.
I listen more closely for the Holy Spirit and for God in my life. That's hard to do in the noise of one of the busiest commercial seasons of the year. I also use them to help me set aside time, in what seems like a season of hurry and rushing constantly. I get room to breathe more in my soul.
Now, what decorating are you doing right now? Pr. Scott
