The struggle in my life right now is weariness. There is so much to get done in the running of a household with 3 young kids. There's so much patience, attention, humor, energy, creativity, and oh yes, food preparation needed each day. There's also all the special needs stuff. I love my family dearly and consider my husband and children to be the greatest blessings in my life, but man, I am failing them all the time. They could all use more and better from me, and I just don't have any more to give. I don't mean to turn this into a pity party - they all know that they are loved and we have many happy moments. But I wish I was never short and/or anxious with any of them, never chose to scroll Facebook over giving them my full attention, and never felt too depleted to give any of them my full and best self. (This is not the highlight reel that I put on social media. :).)
I'm very lucky that these are my struggles right now. I have a few friends who have lost children this year, others who have lost parents, and others who have lost relationships. I know the holidays are a fresh reminder of the loss, and my heart goes out to all of you.
I made a promise to myself not to make this post political, but we can all think of situations in our country and in the world where there is gross suffering and injustice. Advent speaks to these situations as well.
Advent meets our personal pain, and the suffering of the world, with the answer of "already, not yet".
The "already" part we celebrate is that God came to earth as a baby. This brings hope to all the pain and darkness and difficulty on earth, because it gives us a tangible reason to believe that it won't be like this forever. Jesus already came down to earth, fulfilled a bunch of historical promises, and lived a life, death, and resurrection that changes everything and gives us hope beyond what we see in the here and now. We can ground our hope in this "already".
The "not yet" part that we celebrate is that the life we live now, which still has suffering and brokenness and world injustice and our own constant messing up, is not how things will always be. Part of what we look to during Advent is the second coming of Christ, which is when every tear will be wiped away. The sadness and diagnoses and losses will end. I will no longer fall short for the people I love most. Injustice will be righted.
Whatever you're going through this year, whatever is bringing your heart pain, I hope that the great hope of Advent meets you where you are and brings you hope and light.
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