Holding our breath

My soul cries out with a joyful shout

 that the God of my heart is great,

and my spirit sings of the wondrous things

 that you bring to the ones who wait.

You fixed your sight on your servant's plight 

and my weakness you did not spurn,

so from eat to west shall my name be blest.  

Could the world be about to turn? 

 Canticle of the Turning ELW 723

We are in the countdown.  There is much that could be done and choices will be made.  We have become experts at prioritizing our time, money and energy.  Exhaustion is always just outside the front door.

In all this, be sure you leave yourself time to hold your breath....to take in the enormity of this gift, this moment in time, this invitation into life.....because you sure wouldn't want to find out that it had all passed you by.  For the world is about to turn.

Counting down....or anticipating joy?

Even the simplest of Christmas celebrations requires a bit of extra work especially for all those with several young children, yet perhaps if all you are doing is 'counting down' than it is time to re-set the 'Christmas prep' meter.

Maybe if the days of Advent were seen as 24 days to build peace and family strength around the coming Christ child, the fury of it all would die out, and we could work on anticipating the joy of Christ's birth.

What are you doing to make this a season when peace truly comes to all humankind?