ALL about Advent
What do musical xmas trees with tin soldier ornaments have to do with advent? Someone tell me PLEASE! I really would like to know.
Couldn't the manufacturers make an effort, and TRY to make a slightly different model to the tree for christmas? Why don't they sell or make special Advent or Jesse trees for this ocassion?
For me - Advent is a good time to reflect on what HAS been, and NOT a good time to set goals for the future or even make plans - I will leave that activity closer to the New Year.
There is a song by Don Mc Lean - 'round and round as the years go round and round'.....
and so the Advent Wreath, symbolic to me of how the year goes round, it seems that no sooner we begin the journey at the start of a new year, we find ourselves coming back to the same starting point.. only with new memories, and expriences.
The four candles - the four seasons of each year.
'To everything there is a purpose' - Advent is a good time to ponder on this.
To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.
ecclesiastes 3:1-8
I wish to learn to refrain. To enjoy the moment and not to try and have it all. Leave something for later to enjoy.
I wish more people would learn the art of refraining.
Advent is not a time to run round the mall like a mindless thingy, armed with shopping trolley mowing people down, grabbing anything and everything in their wake, NO matter what the TV commercials would have us believe.
Advent is a good time to prepare for the season. I am keeping the house bare for this, to remind me that I am preparing to celebrate the joy of the Season - when the time is right.