Today, is November 28, 2021. The first day of Advent. Advent is meant to narrow our focus on Christ as we journey toward Christmas Day. The day we celebrate the King has come! Advent is a time where we adventure into the places where Christ has been box in or boxed out of our lives. It is a time of year where we can intentionally reset for the next year by refocusing our hearts on the One we really need. Even the songs we sing declare His coming, His reason for coming, and our great need.

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining, 
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining. 
Till He appeared and the Soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices! 
O night divine, the night when Christ was born.

This is one of my most favorite Christmas songs. Each year, it draws me in. If I am lucky I will catch a hearing of it from my daughter this year. I am the kind of person that struggles with decorating for Christmas. I find the thought of it to be work, rather than an excitement, until we gather. We typically do a tree decorating day, where my daughter comes with her family. My son and I prepare the room. We set up the tree and get all the goodies out of the closet. My hubby prepares a meal for the family. We turn on Christmas songs, drink coco, and decorate. But on years like this, when we will all be at my sisters house in MO, I find that I don’t want to put in the work since we wont be here. My son, who is 13, when I asked, “do we have too?,” gave me the look, “Mom, it’s Christmas?!” He still gets giddy over Christmas and these moments wont last forever. For most of this year, I have felt a sagging weight on my soul. Perhaps, what I need more than anything is to feel that thrill of hope where the weary world (my world) rejoices. Maybe with all the Christmas decor change and cheer that “yonder break” can break in and bring that new and glorious morn for me.

What I really need isn’t a decorating plan… I need Christ, to come into all my weary places.

Are you weary too? Join me in this prayer:

Jesus, I need you. I need you to break into all my weary places and bring me into that new and glorious morn. Make your new covenant real to me again. I remember what you said in Revelation 21:5 “Behold, I am making all things new.” Come make me new! Come redecorate my soul house and make it your own until my weary heart rejoices.

All is grace,

Starla