Advent: Imperfect, Yet Profitable
Your Advent experience won’t be perfect. It likely won’t look like slow mornings with a cup of coffee or Instagram worthy pictures of you and your family gathered around the table in deep conversation. Even still, a less-than-perfect Advent, is still profitable.
Deuteronomy 11:18-19 invites us to be joyfully obedient in remembering the words of the Lord.
“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
God’s Word gives life we need to be sustained through each day. Let Advent provide a starting point of daily pointing your eyes toward the King who came and is coming again.
Here are some practical ideas for intentionally setting yourself up for success in observing Advent:
Place the Advent resources you will be using at the kitchen table and complete it yourself or with your family during a mealtime.
Place your Advent resources in the car as a reminder to think about the work of Christ while driving.
Stay connected to the community of Doxa through our social media to be encouraged by other individuals and families that are beholding the work of Christ through observing Advent.
Give yourself grace from the pressure of perfection.
Prepare your individual heart prior to attempting to lead your family’s. You cannot lead your family in beholding Christ if you yourself aren’t practicing that. Loving your family well is an overflow of your love for Christ.
And so as we continue this season of Advent, if you find yourself one or two weeks in and you’ve forgotten a day or run out of time, don’t throw in the towel and quit. Use it as a sanctifying reminder that we can’t even get Advent right, which reminds us of our need for our Savior.
Push through to intentionally turn your eyes toward Jesus as an individual and as a family, allowing Advent to prepare your heart for the celebration of Jesus’ birth His second arrival that is coming. We love you and are praying for you to experience the joy of Christ in a unique way through the observation of this Advent season!
Taylor Bumgarner
The Director of Doxa Kids