Headline - Tuesday.

Israel Buries Mumbai Dead.

Unsettled.

I remain in a space of feeling unsettled. I'm working to be okay with that, but am having a harder time than usual tonight.

I remain in a space of fasting and praying, waiting and watching.

I remain strangely attracted to the scents of the burial spices that the wise men brought as gifts to the baby Jesus. To frankincense and myrrh. I burn them in my home, cover my skin with lotion scented with them, and today I wore oil of myrrh as my perfume.

How can a season of death also be one of birth?

And what does it all mean?

I found a website with daily scripture readings for advent. This was tonight's:

Mark 13
33 Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come.
34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.
35 Watch therefore--for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning--
36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.
37 And what I say to you I say to all: Watch."


And so, I wait and watch and fast and pray, and hope and dream, and try to trust that eventually the unsettledness will pass, and the season will change, and rest and peace and healing will be fully and deeply restored to so many whom I love.

Headline - Monday night

This headline caught my attention tonight:

Brazil's President asks God to Halt Rains, Proposes New Plan for Aid

One Candle

I missed attending a church service for the first Sunday of Advent for the first time in my life yesterday, and it really bothered me. My heart seems to revolve with the seasons of the church calendar and it was hard on me to not be with a corporate body to acknowledge that. Especially given the way this last year has been. A season of waiting for birth, and for light to enter into the world seems fitting right now.

So, tonight I formed a simple wreath on my dresser. Three purple tapers, and one rose colored one. Five stones engraved with words that have been reminders to my heart all year. Loved. Hope. Courage. Peace. Joy. And one short white pillar in the centre - the Christ candle, waiting for Christmas to dawn.

I prayed a simple prayer, read a few verses of scripture, and lit the candle. It burnt there peacefully while I did a bit of writing, and then I snuffed it out for another week. The wreath will stay where it is, reminding me through the coming weeks to pray and fast and wait for the coming of the light, for the birth of the Messiah.

Come Lord Jesus.

I Liked This

Claudia Mair Burney, who is one of my favorite novelists, and one of my favorite bloggers, put up a post today about the first Sunday of Advent (which is today if you don't keep track of these things). I loved the post, and thought I'd send you all to read it too.