Good news.
Advent has started. And you are dang right I have been lighting the candles. Advent contains 4 of my favorite life themes: Hope, Peace, Joy & Love.
Sidenote: I am terrible at all those themes.
Anyway, I love Advent. And not just because of this awesomeness. Granted, that movement articulates a lot of how I feel but I have discovered that I rarely have anything to look forward to. I am not big on expectation, but the Advent season is chock full of expectation. It stirs up desires for hope, for peace, for joy (sort of) and for love (I say "sort of" at joy because out of these 4, I am downright horrible at joy. But I desire it, so that helps). Recently, I was reminded of the hymn It Is Well With My Soul, and I have decided it is the perfect Advent song. The dynamic lyrics point to a coming expectation and a longing to be united with our Savior.
The first week/candle of Advent is Hope. I have been praying about Hope a lot lately. I mean, come on, its the first week of Advent. It's important. Like the first person to take penalty kicks. But Hope has been heavy on my mind because lately I have been struggling with Forgiveness.
Was that unnecessarily capitalized? Sure, but it is really hard to hope when you are struggling with forgiveness. I think the real reason I am struggling with it is because I far too often link God's forgiveness with the forgiveness of the people around me. When I don't feel forgiven by people, its hard to believe that God would forgive me as well.
Now, I know that's not true. I can quote verse after verse after verse that speaks of the completeness of God's forgiveness and of his love for me. So during this time of expectation I have been praying about forgiveness, that I would find my hope in a God that forgives completely and wholly.
What about you? What are your thoughts on forgiveness? How do you experience forgiveness? Is there someone you need to forgive? Is there someone who has hurt you that you need to talk to? Do you "just" need to find rest in the fact that we serve a holy God who loves fully and forgives conclusively?
My prayer for this advent season is that as the expectation of the coming of Jesus Christ builds and guides our experiences, may we be filled with the hope that comes from relationship, from relentless grace, and from the indelible love of a Savior that knows us and who entered our story. And may these lyrics resound with our souls as we go forth:
"My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
