Tuesday, December 2, 2014

advent, day 1

well.
i was all set up for a beautiful first day of advent.
i had my new advent book for the early morning. some new "sweet" traditions to start with the kids over dinner. it was going to be so beautiful and amazing and just usher us into this season with such...

oh, i don't know.

this picture ^^ is more what it was like.

i made a new recipe for dinner that took twice as long as i thought it would and no one (except lincoln. but he likes ANYthing) liked it. then i rushed through our "new, sweet traditions" because i was so tired and had some crazy blood sugar issues that were making me feel all crazy-like. and our yard full of lights didn't even cooperate! it was pouring rain, which somehow tripped the lights outside so our house was not even looking festive.

it was a mess. not how i pictured it at all.

but, you know what?? i think that's the point. of ALL of it. of this month. of Him even needing to come to Earth as a perfect baby to be our Savior. we are a mess. and we need Him.

today is another day. i truly do want this month to be a quiet time of reflecting on all He has done for us. and i'm sure we'll have moments where that is the case. but it's also going to be full of messy moments...where we all need grace from ourselves and each other.

we're having leftovers tonight, and at least i know how that is going to go :/ ha!

2 comments:

Courtney said...

yes! yes! yes! our pastor's sermon was about this very thing on sunday and i remember thinking "oh- I'm good. i don't have unrealistic expectations. i'm focused on the right thing." Pride comes before the fall, right!? And then..... the tree fell, our outside lights gave up, we sped through our day today with a too-late bed time, and I haven't even begun those precious traditions that i keep hoping i'll do year after year. And yet, you're right. Christ CAME in messiness, Christ loves us in our messiness, and it's in our messiness that we meet him. Thanks be to God!

Shannan Martin said...

From my mess to yours, YES!!!!