Even though all the stores and television ads are telling you otherwise,
Christmas doesn’t arrive until December 25th.
Shocking news, isn’t it?

The Christmas season is in full swing.
All the music, all the decorations, all the credit card purchases.
All of it.

But wait.

This is Advent – a time of preparing for Christmas. Just as Lent is the time leading up to Easter, Advent is supposed to be slower, quieter, and more introspective as we get ready for Christ to arrive. Instead, we jump into full-on celebration right from the start of December and by the time the 25th rolls around, we are exhausted and kind of glad it’s all over. We’re getting it all wrong.

“Advent is like the hush of the theater just before the curtain rises.”
Frederick Buechner

Four weeks are built into the Christian calendar to “help us cultivate waiting, hope, and longing. And longing isn’t short. Longing literally takes a looooong time or it’s not really a longing, is it?” (A. J. Sherrill, Rediscovering Christmas)

Oh, I know. Waiting isn’t easy. We are so used to immediate gratification—getting what we want when we want it. Advent waiting, though, allows God time to do deep work in us, if we sit still long enough. 

I’m trying to reign in the hustle and bustle during Advent. I’d like to save some mental, emotional and physical energy for the day the waiting is over and the true celebration begins—Christmas Day! I don’t want to be so stuffed with Christmas by the 25th that I sleep through the real show.

Hush! The curtain is about to rise!