Vision

Today is the first Sunday in Advent. We have always celebrated Advent in my family. As a child, we had an Advent fair and made miniature wreaths and ornaments, all to prepare for the Christmas season. Advent begins 4 Sundays before Christmas and is the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus. Growing up, we not only lit the candles each Sunday in church, but as a family on the Sunday evening after dinner we would light the candle, read scripture, and discuss as a family what it meant. This is something that Colby and I like to do to prepare our hearts for the true meaning of Christmas is and will do this when we have a family of our own someday.

So tonight we lit the candle of Vision, which signifies the Prophet's Candle. The scripture reference was Isaiah 9: 2, 6. "The people who walked in the darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The prophets of old saw the need for the coming of Christ. Being close to God, the prophets looked at the world with more than their eyes; they looked with their faith, sense of justice and love. They saw life not only as it is, but as it should be, according to God. When the people strayed from God's way, the prophets expected that God would someday act in a special way to set things straight her on earth. The prophets spoke of a Messiah- someone who would come to save the people from wrongdoing. Today, we need the prophet's vision, seeing with the eyes of God.

I pray for vision for all of us, as we prepare to celebrate His birth and wait for His second coming, so that our eyes are fixed upon Him in spite of the busyness the Christmas season brings. I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving, I'll post those pictures eventually, just wanted to hit an important post first! Colby will slowly be bringing the Christmas stuff down from the attic, so here is the "bare bones" of our advent wreath and hopefully will be full of greenery by next week. I'm so excited to decorate for Christmas, that is also a "rule" in our house, that it can't be done until after Thanksgiving, so I'm looking forward to putting things up slowly this week! Blessings!