Advent wasn’t built for cocoa-fueled denial or curated coziness. It was born for moments like this. A world on edge. A soul trying to remember itself. A season that asks you to stop performing calm and actually wait for something real to be born.
You are one of a couple of people, this morning, to mention problems with breathing. When anxiety levels become high enough, people have to concentrate on breathing to breathe. This December truly is a month of trying to reconcile too many issues of all types to be able to pay attention to what truly is important. It is more than sad. In the destruction of cultural practices and expectations we are experiencing in our transformation to truth, honesty and authenticity, perhaps we will throw off all the old meaningless excess.
I hear you, Mary. When the world gets loud enough, even breathing starts to feel like a task on the to-do list. Maybe that’s why this season keeps nudging us back to what’s real. All the noise, all the collapsing expectations, all the stuff we’re shedding… it might actually be clearing space for a quieter, truer way of living. If nothing else, it reminds us to come back to the simple rhythm that keeps everything going. Breathe, notice, repeat.
Kintsugi is the honoring of the broken in its zig-zaggedness by highlighting the cracks with gold or silver. This crooked blessing is the gold in our brokenness. Thank you
I was JUST yesterday trying to remember the name for that. And for much the same reason. This year has been... how shall I say it? "eventful" for my partner and I, but we've come through it together, and I was thinking that the new scars were like the gold in those cracks. But I could not for the life of me conjure the name of the art form. So thank you!
“And no amount of tinsel will hide the truth that your soul wants something real.” This describes perfectly how I’ve felt every Christmas for many years.
“may something sacred break through the rubble of this year
and choose you
as its birthplace.” How I wish it could be so. ❤️🩹
Again, you bring us home to the hearth of faith. Thank you. I was thinking I was doing well to avoid Christmas songs until after Christmas — it’s a start anyway.
I’m lying here post surgery waiting for pain meds to kick in. I’ve no patience to read at this point, the pain is too distracting. Still I opened this writing and I’m so glad I did. I’ve no choice but to sit with advent and receive its wisdom. I sometimes wonder if I chose the right time to be immobile. Perhaps I chose the wisest. This will be a different holiday season for me and this writing was what I needed to receive its gift.
Karla, I’m glad you cracked this open even in the middle of the pain fog. Sometimes the body makes decisions our spirit has been avoiding, and suddenly Advent isn’t a season you “observe” but a couch you’re forced to lie on until the wisdom soaks in.
Immobility can be its own kind of pilgrimage. Not the fun kind, but the honest kind.
Rest, receive what comes, and let the days be gentle with you.
In my more cynical moments, I feel like there's been a fifth theme added to advent: Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and DOORBUSTER SAVINGS FOR ONE DAY ONLY! It's exhausting. The manic craziness on the faces of people everywhere looking like if they don't find the newest Fragglestick Car they will be a colossal failure and no matter how successful their hunt is, it never seems to be enough. Because the expectation is always higher than the realization can achieve, no matter how much money they throw at it. I mostly escaped THAT trap, but the general Everything, Everywhere All at Once is still a struggle.It's just not any worse when this time of year rolls around anymore.
So much truth in that post I couldnt swallow it all at once. Good or bad, I’ve ignored Advent for decades & focused on Christmas - not the commercial side, but the event itself & everything surrounding it. That alone is enuf to fill the month of December, took November to finish celebrating my favorite, Halloween. I’m sure my life situation has much to do with it but we’re sneaking towards January, my least favorite month where I hibernate & have a daily boxing match with seasonal affective disorder. I felt this strong undercurrent of faith in what you wrote slide into me, probably because those were thots that hadn’t entered my mind & heart for ages. And then i started smiling. (That initially typed out as smelling, which really cracked me up. Glad i proofread most of the time 😅). And glad you write most of the time. 😌
You are one of a couple of people, this morning, to mention problems with breathing. When anxiety levels become high enough, people have to concentrate on breathing to breathe. This December truly is a month of trying to reconcile too many issues of all types to be able to pay attention to what truly is important. It is more than sad. In the destruction of cultural practices and expectations we are experiencing in our transformation to truth, honesty and authenticity, perhaps we will throw off all the old meaningless excess.
I hear you, Mary. When the world gets loud enough, even breathing starts to feel like a task on the to-do list. Maybe that’s why this season keeps nudging us back to what’s real. All the noise, all the collapsing expectations, all the stuff we’re shedding… it might actually be clearing space for a quieter, truer way of living. If nothing else, it reminds us to come back to the simple rhythm that keeps everything going. Breathe, notice, repeat.
Kintsugi is the honoring of the broken in its zig-zaggedness by highlighting the cracks with gold or silver. This crooked blessing is the gold in our brokenness. Thank you
I was JUST yesterday trying to remember the name for that. And for much the same reason. This year has been... how shall I say it? "eventful" for my partner and I, but we've come through it together, and I was thinking that the new scars were like the gold in those cracks. But I could not for the life of me conjure the name of the art form. So thank you!
Thank you for sharing that - totally unfamiliar with it & appreciate your sharing xo
Thank you for your crooked blessing, Brother V! It somehow goes with this year’s Christmas very well.🎄 I need more caffeine today, though!☕️
I’m right there with you on the needing more caffeine. And your comment on his blessing & Christmas 😘
May it be so. 🙏
“And no amount of tinsel will hide the truth that your soul wants something real.” This describes perfectly how I’ve felt every Christmas for many years.
“may something sacred break through the rubble of this year
and choose you
as its birthplace.” How I wish it could be so. ❤️🩹
I wish that so too. Love what you shared, thank you 🥰
Again, you bring us home to the hearth of faith. Thank you. I was thinking I was doing well to avoid Christmas songs until after Christmas — it’s a start anyway.
I’m lying here post surgery waiting for pain meds to kick in. I’ve no patience to read at this point, the pain is too distracting. Still I opened this writing and I’m so glad I did. I’ve no choice but to sit with advent and receive its wisdom. I sometimes wonder if I chose the right time to be immobile. Perhaps I chose the wisest. This will be a different holiday season for me and this writing was what I needed to receive its gift.
Karla, I’m glad you cracked this open even in the middle of the pain fog. Sometimes the body makes decisions our spirit has been avoiding, and suddenly Advent isn’t a season you “observe” but a couch you’re forced to lie on until the wisdom soaks in.
Immobility can be its own kind of pilgrimage. Not the fun kind, but the honest kind.
Rest, receive what comes, and let the days be gentle with you.
In my more cynical moments, I feel like there's been a fifth theme added to advent: Hope, Peace, Joy, Love and DOORBUSTER SAVINGS FOR ONE DAY ONLY! It's exhausting. The manic craziness on the faces of people everywhere looking like if they don't find the newest Fragglestick Car they will be a colossal failure and no matter how successful their hunt is, it never seems to be enough. Because the expectation is always higher than the realization can achieve, no matter how much money they throw at it. I mostly escaped THAT trap, but the general Everything, Everywhere All at Once is still a struggle.It's just not any worse when this time of year rolls around anymore.
So much truth in that post I couldnt swallow it all at once. Good or bad, I’ve ignored Advent for decades & focused on Christmas - not the commercial side, but the event itself & everything surrounding it. That alone is enuf to fill the month of December, took November to finish celebrating my favorite, Halloween. I’m sure my life situation has much to do with it but we’re sneaking towards January, my least favorite month where I hibernate & have a daily boxing match with seasonal affective disorder. I felt this strong undercurrent of faith in what you wrote slide into me, probably because those were thots that hadn’t entered my mind & heart for ages. And then i started smiling. (That initially typed out as smelling, which really cracked me up. Glad i proofread most of the time 😅). And glad you write most of the time. 😌