What Advent is teaching me
Advent arrived quietly on the last day of November. I had eaten leftover chocolate pie just the morning before, and now it was time to carry gratitude in the next season of sparkling lights, white elephant gift exchanges, and to-do lists. I had plans to read through one Advent devotional this year, but then I changed my plan on the second day of Advent (hello, Monday) because I heard my favorite Bible study writers at Precept International put together scriptures I wanted to read through and questions to prompt personal application. (It’s available online and for free!)
Every year, I tell myself I’ll slow down enough to pay attention. And every year, it feels like December has its own agenda: busy, loud, urgent. But this year feels different. I’ve let go of some responsibilities that have opened up my calendar and given me more time at home to be a wife and mom. I’m clinging to God in a fresh way, perhaps because life has loosened my grip on the control I too often yearn for.
This year, the beginning of Advent has been teaching me something different, not in a dramatic way, but in a gentle, persistent whisper.
1. Waiting isn’t wasted
I’m usually impatient for the next thing – next event, next answer, next step. And I like putting plans on my calendar. But Advent keeps reminding me that God does some of His deepest work in the waiting. The world waited centuries for a Savior. I can wait a few weeks, or even a season, trusting that the waiting itself is forming something in me that will draw me closer to my Creator and Savior.
2. Small beginnings matter
Finding God in big breakthroughs and huge celebrations isn’t too hard, but Advent is the story of a King who arrived quietly, in a small town, in the most ordinary way imaginable. He was born where animals usually lie. Talk about simplicity. This has challenged me to pay attention to the small, faithful things: the prayer whispered while doing dishes, the kindness no one sees, the simple “yes” to what God puts in front of me.
3. Peace doesn’t require perfection
December often feels like a juggling act with schedules, emotions, and expectations. Yet the angels announced peace into a world that was politically tense, socially divided, and spiritually longing. Peace came anyway. Peace came from God alone – and He knew full well the brokenness in the world then and now. This reminds me that I don’t need my calendar or my home or my heart to be perfectly arranged to experience the peace Jesus brings. Peace is a Person, not circumstances, plans, or even a well-themed gift.
4. Hope grows with space
Advent asks me a simple question: Is there room for Jesus here? The innkeeper didn’t have room. And likewise, I’ve been guilty of shutting Jesus out. But He belongs in my mind, my margins, my routines, and certainly my calendar. Making space doesn’t have to be complicated. I’ve been trying with five quiet minutes in the morning after the kids are ushered to school, a prayer before I respond in frustration, and a pause before I rush out the door again. And sometimes the space comes when God forces it, like when a child tests positive for COVID and needs a couple of days at home. Or when the teenager has counseling and I have enough time to do two devotions on the Advent reading plan I started late.
Whether planned or not, these moments leave enough room for hope to take root.
5. Light shines brightest in the dark
This season always brings moments of heaviness and grief from the year we’ve just lived. Yet Advent flips the script: light isn’t intimidated by darkness. It pierces it. This is reminding me that I don’t have to hide the parts of my life that feel dark or unfinished. Jesus came because of them.
Advent isn’t asking me to try harder or do more this year. It’s inviting me to look up, slow down, and remember that God is already at work in small things, quiet places, ordinary days, and imperfect people.
And somehow, that reminder feels like exactly the gift I needed this December.
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