Week 1 Advent- HOPE

The 1st week of Advent we light a purple candle representing: Christ is the light of the world and gift of Hope!

We live in a time were we find ourselves searching for HOPE in our lives. Some of us look for it in money and the thought that having a bigger house, nicer car, fatter bank account, high end purses or lable clothes, amongst other things will give us the hope, peace, and stability we seek. Others look for it in polititians with their promises of a better life, while others find themselves looking for it in relationships, food, social media, shopping, or drugs to fill the void and emptiness that only God can fill. 

What we fail to realize is that hope was born from a virgin tired from a long journey riding a donkey at 9 months pregnat, in a major surrounded by animals because they couldn't find a room, wrapped in clothes and laying on a bed of hay. That 1st Christmas thousands of years ago teaches us that hope came to our world even though it was not perfect and things don't seem to be going right, that God does His greatest miracles in the middle of our messy lives just like He did that night.

The Christmas story is more than just the tale of the birth of a child but the birth of the long awaited hope, of the worlds savior. In that very 1st Christmas God gave us the gift of His son and continues to give that hopless world the gift of hope year after year.

* hope for a better tomorrow
* hope that God can still use our broken lives and make something beautiful out of it
* hope that we don't have to be perfect in order to be loved
* hope that miracles can come out of our messy lives
* hope of forgiveness and redemption
* hope that the best is yet to come

"May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope byt he power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13)


how does knowing Jesus is the light of the world bring you Hope during this season?

Popular posts from this blog

our new obsession

Image
I know I wrote "our" new obsession but let's be honest for a minute it's more "my" new obsession... dried flower bookmarks! Yes, I'm back to my school aged arts and craft years and loving it... honestly anything that can keep mama from falling into a depression stage because it's the end of Summer in the Pacific North West and that means we live in Mordor.  What do you mean? Well California, Oregon, and Washington catch on fire. This means we live in a depressing dreary constant gray existence, surrounded by smoke, we sometimes pretend is a hot fog that smells and play Christmas music. Because it's the Pacific North West and winter is gray,  another dreary gray existance but less depressing? The jury is still out on that but at least you can feel the cool crisp air and fill your lungs of pine beautiful clean air. We have not seen the sun in days and when we do is a Red ball, the moon was so eerie red last night kind of bea
Read more

Triumph Muffins

Image
Simple pleasures are the last healthy refuge in a complex world. Oscar Wilde I try to infuse my life with beauty and simple pleasures as much as I can.  Like my previous post where I talked about flowers by my kitchen sink add a touch of beauty and bring pleasure to a mundane and sometimes dreaded task. I think the world is just to full of yuck, hate, separation, stress, worries, pain, etc. And our home should be a refuge. A place where we can rest, breathe, find solace. When we are at home our souls should be at rest, or as much as possible, I don't think we'll ever be at rest until we're united with God like St Augustine writes in his confessions  “ You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You". But you get my point. One of the ways I like to infuse my home with beauty and make it comfortable to be in is by trying to always have baked goods for snacks.  Baking is something I find infused with pleasure from the moment I put
Read more

Rose Cake and some things I have been pondering lately...

Image
Sunday was Mother's Day, oh what a complicated day.  So many women experience an incredible amount of emotions on that one day... the loss of a child, infertility, loss of a mother, oh so many things and triggers that can come up in this one day. My prayers go out to all women on this day, I've known the pain of infertility, of miscarriage, and of not having my own mother on this day. It can also bring up the attack society places on moms. The feeling of not enough, of seing motherhood as a waste of your talents, time, and the saddest one it being a burden.  But it is not, How magnificent it is that as women we get the gift to work hand in hand with God in creating and raising inmortal souls! As a mother your body has at some point held two souls inside of it at one time (or 3 if you had twins!) What a gift! Knowing that and how God gave you those little souls because He thinks you are the best person to raise them, with your shortcomings and flaws, with your gifts, and how we
Read more