Mindful of Advent

Tomorrow, the season of Advent begins and even those who are concerned if a single red or green light appear on their streets must admit that it’s okay now.

We can prepare.

Preparing means different things to different people. There are as many different traditions around these four weeks as there are Christian families.

In our house we have three high school students, two of whom will take final exams before Christmas Day. The Cinnamon Girl and I are teachers with exams to write and administer, curriculum to complete and duties to fulfill. The academic nature of our lives can push Advent to the margins of our awareness. We have Christmas gift lists and parties and masses and events. We have – if we allow it be such – a crush of things to do that can overwhelm these days.

We’ve decided not to let that happen.

We’ve made a promise to ourselves to not allow that to happen. We’ve made a promise to be mindful this Advent season – mindful of our time, mindful of one another and mindful of the reason we set aside these days.

I read a quote about Advent that I want to keep in focus this year from Bill McKibben: “Advent is the time to listen for footsteps – you can’t hear footsteps when you’re running yourself.”

We will be mindful this Advent, savoring this special time.