Saturday Morning Thoughts (With an Advent Tangent)

It's Saturday morning again. I seem to write these posts on a regular basis.

I'm in the midst of a couple of days of fairly intentional quiet and prayer.

Still in a season of fasting and waiting and praying.

But today, though I'm moving a bit slowly, conscious of my energy and the demands of what I do on my body, I'm going to find things that are joyful.

I'm going to start my Christmas shopping, and go with my roommate to do some of her Christmas shopping. I need to find birthday gifts for three separate people who all have birthday's before Christmas. I may even put up my Christmas tree.

That seems like a lot of Christmas for one day.

I'm sort of one of these people who really likes Advent. I don't tend to get into the "Christmas Spirit" until Christmas Eve. There's something for me in the darkness of Advent, the waiting and longing for light to enter the world, for the birth of the savior.

So, I do all the Christmasy things that are necessary before Christmas eve, but I'm not really feeling it until then. Until it's the moment of arrival. The birth of the child.

I used to feel bad about that. Like I was some sort of Christmas spoil-sport. But this year, in the midst of the season of life I've found myself in, I've told myself that it's okay to simply embrace this. To wait and long for the birth of a savior, for the arrival of light in the world. To move slowly and quietly through the darkness, preparing (buying gifts, decorating, etc.) for the coming of Christmas, but not hurrying the process, or feeling bad for not yet being ready to celebrate. Anticipation and longing, I've decided, are not unhealthy things.

And, with that unexpected Advent tangent, I'm off to do laundry, and head out to do things that prepare for the coming celebration of light and birth.