Put The Camera Down!!!

So the husband and I were able to get away for a 36-hour trip to Sydney. Without children, even. We went up the Sydney tower, which provides a 360°view of the city. It was breathtaking, and even more so because we went at sunset. It was a very busy place, with lots of families and tourists from many different nations. Sydney is like that. Everything is fast, busy, and frantic. Even folks who were on holidays were madly scrambling to take photos, seeing the stunning view through a lens instead of taking it all in. I like to take photos too, but I was surprised at how nobody was just looking- experiencing it. 

Its a good metaphor, I think, for the way we do Advent. We plan, we schedule, we scramble to get here, to be there. Do we ever sit down and experience the tingling anticipation of the Christ child, or is what we're really anticipating the next day of Advent? 

I said to my children Friday (Fried Day, in our house) "I love Jesus, but I hate Christmas."

I hate what it has become. It has become more items on an impossible to-do list. This last week alone - and I know that parents of school-aged children will know EXACTLY what I am saying here - I had two vegetable platters to shop for and prepare, Christmas raffle tickets, Two concerts, a Secret Santa gift to buy, teacher gifts to organise, and then somebody decided Thursday they wanted to give Christmas cards to their class (I had to decline this, and declare that Dec. 1st is the deadline for future projects of this nature), and "We have to wear Christmas clothes tomorrow and boring WHITE shirts isn't good enough!!". And so on. At no point, in all of this, did I feel able to contemplate the quiet and beautiful truth of a baby born to save us all. 

Why can't the anticipation of the coming Savior be just a part of normal, everyday life? Because we are waiting for His return, after all. Why does Advent have to be something we must do? Is there a manual somewhere which contains the Advent instructions? 
I want to put the camera down, and just...

Look.

Listen.

And wait.
 
XO, Sarah

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