Hi Friends, Welcome to week one of the Advent Series! This year I am writing these Advent devotionals for those overcoming spiritual anxiety. (You can read more on that here if you missed it.) There is healing for us in this Advent story, and it starts at the very beginning. In Luke 1:26-38, we see Mary visited by the Angel Gabriel and given a most shocking message. That she, a virgin, would bear the Son of God. She is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, and it begins: Jesus spends His first 9 months on earth just like you and I did — in the womb. In coming as a baby, Jesus dignified the rhythms and limitations of the human frame. For even the Incarnation happened at the speed of man. If you or I were planning Jesus’ first coming, we would never have tucked Him out of eyesight for the first 9 months. He could have walked in from the wilderness fully grown and hit the ground running. We need Him! There’s so much to do! We would have skipped the small, the growth, the delay. Time is of the essence! We would want to hear Him speak as many anointed words as possible and show us with as many actions as possible the ways of the Kingdom. I mean, those are all really good things, right? But in fully giving Himself to the silence and stillness of the womb, perhaps God spoke His loudest words of all. For in those months of perceived inactivity, He shouts over the normal human rhythms of your life and mine, “It is good!” But this may not have been what you were told. Even in the church, some have been taught to resist normalcy. To fight the boundaries of our human frames. We pretend like we don’t need sleep. Like rest for the mind and body is optional. We glorify burning the candle at both ends. We regard ones who press, press, press as heroes. We make over-work the sign of wholeheartedness. But Jesus did not toil. He did not assign virtue to pressing the normal bounds of the human frame. Jesus fully subjected Himself to the rhythms, needs, and delays of being a man. When we let the weight of super-human living come off our shoulders, we are agreeing with the One who gave us our humanity, it is good. Prayer: –Anna |
I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
Hi Friends, At this point in our unusual Advent series, it’s clear that God has chosen to do things much differently than we would have. And the announcement of Jesus’ birth is no different. You and I, we probably would have shouted the announcement of His arrival in the palace of the king. All eyes and ears, give attention! Or maybe we would have sent the message to the halls of the temple. Yes, it would be fitting to send word to the priests who spend their days in spiritual service to God....
Hi Friends, I’m planning something unusual for this Advent season. For the last couple years, I’ve taken the weeks leading up to Christmas to stare with you into the passages of Scripture about Christ coming as a baby. The birth of Christ is a storyline that’s rich in wonder. We could spend all 365 days of the year focusing on it and not exhaust all there is to see. This year, I want to immerse us in this story once again… But with an unusual twist. I am writing an Advent series for those...
Hi Friends, I’m in one of those marriages. You know the kind. One where my husband starts playing Christmas music the day after Halloween, and I am left dumbfounded that someone could so heedlessly skip right over the Thanksgiving season. Yes season! (I know about half of you are on team husband, but I press on.) I’m wanting to be more intentional this year about my thanks-giving. The cultivation of gratitude in my heart and life. And I’m starting this “thanks-giving” focus in an unusual...