The season of Advent is upon us. This is a time when Christians prepare their hearts to celebrate coming of Jesus. I absolutely love this season and look forward to it each year. I thought I'd share a few of the things I will be doing to prepare for Christmas this year.
Adoration once a week. Much to my delight, Super Mom informed me about a parish here in my new town that offers perpetual adoration. You may remember from this post, leaving the beautiful adoration chapel in College Station was one of the things I thought I'd miss most about the move. Lucky for me, I can continue my practice of attending here. Because I am a person who is always going, always doing, never quiet or still, adoration is the perfect way for me to really stop, reflect, and listen.
Blessed Is She Advent Journal. This one, too, is thanks to Super Mom. She is also doing this journal and recommended it on her blog. I ordered mine and so far, two days in, I'm absolutely loving it. It offers daily readings and reflection questions.
Random acts of kindness. For years now, I have made this part of my Advent celebration. Each year, I select one person who I anonymously send a rather substantial (at least in my mind) monetary gift to brighten their Christmas. Additionally, I make it a point to try and seek out folks to gift with smaller presents. This includes giving money and/or food to the homeless anytime I can.
Bible.com studies. My sweet friend, ABJ's Mama, suggested that I get the Bible.com app on my phone. It offers different Bible Studies that you can select from. Most of the ones I've seen are about 7 days long. So....I plan to complete three of them during this Advent season. I'm starting off with "From This Day Forward" which is a study about marriage. Good timing, huh?
Advent prayer as my lock screen. Another friend---man, I've got good ones!--Meg, posted a beautiful advent prayer and suggested that people set that as their lock screen on their phone. This way, every time you want to unlock your phone, you pray the prayer. I absolutely loved this idea and the prayer....so of course, I joined in.
Living with grace. More often than I'd like to admit, I'm impatient. I snap at The Boy from Texas for no reason. I am easily annoyed. So I am trying consciously to focus on this and really focus on doing better. When I feel annoyed or impatient or start to say something rude or to pick a fight, I'm telling myself, "Give grace." Will it work perfectly? Certainly not. Will it at least be a start? I hope so.
Weekly blog updates. To keep me on track, I am going to share something that I learned or that really hit me each week. Hopefully this will be inspirational to all of you during this season as well.
Do you celebrate Advent? What are you doing this year?
1 comment:
Hey a Tiffany! Our family does the same Christmas novena every year. Say it 15 times daily between November 30 and Christmas Eve for a special intention. Sometimes we are falling asleep saying it because we start it at the end of the evening but it never fails us. Very powerful. Have a blessed,holy advent with your new hubby.
Nancy L.
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