What Does Advent Require of Me?

 

Advent carries an inherent stillness, whispering hope, calm and breezy.   

Yet quiet anticipation is not void of action.  Advent brings energy, channeled and purposeful.  A focus on what lies ahead.  

Micah 6:8 reads, "What does the Lord require of you?  To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."  This passage seemingly offers the same gentleness of advent - a sort of waiting and walking.  Digging deeper, it suggests so much more - a call to boldness; a ferocity to  pursue mercy and humility, requiring both great risk and vulnerability.  Like advent, it's a call to action.    

Author Ann Voskamp writes, "God’s not asking me to produce — He’s asking me to pray. God’s not asking me to climb ladders — He’s asking me to kneel and let go."  Weaving faithful prayer with fervent hope requires letting go of our illusions of control and trusting the Creator to create new realities in the midst of despair.  It's deliberately focused. 

Advent isn't a Hallmark movie wrought with syrupy decadence; us self-indulgent of the sweet shimmery and shallow.  Rather, advent is a season of discipline to deepening our senses and desires into what matters most.  Advent is a call to action.  To believe when believing seems trite.  To lead when defeat snarls loud.  To drop to our knees, not out of desperation but out of expectant hope in preparation for what's been and what's becoming.  Advent is boldly seeking Jesus in a world crying out for Light.