My Own Personal Advent

As I was lying in bed a few minutes ago, I realized I'm kind of in my own personal season of advent. I grew up in a church that followed and celebrated seasons, one of them being advent. The color is blue, and it's a period of time where we're waiting, or anticipating the arrival of Christ. 

As I was thinking about that this morning, I started to realize how different that period of advent would have been for Mary than it ever was for me growing up. We celebrated by using the color blue throughout the sanctuary, and on Sundays we would light one of the candles on the advent wreath and sing a song about hope, love, joy and peace. 

Those four weeks before Jesus was born were probably a little different for Mary. If I feel anything like she did, hope, love and joy were there (although I'm not expecting much peace for at least the first few weeks), but there are a lot of other elements mixed in, too. As much as I wonder if I'll be a good mother and teach my daughter what she needs to know, I can't imagine what it would be like to anticipate raising the son of God.

I also can't imagine what the journey to Bethlehem was like for Mary and Joseph. It must have been long. I've got 7 weeks until my due date, and I'm moving pretty slowly (at least, compared to my normal walking speed). Traveling by car isn't bad, but sitting on a horse or donkey for long periods of time couldn't have been comfortable, and then the extra movement would have forced additional bathroom breaks...crazy.

Regardless of the fears, Matt and I are so excited to meet our daughter. I'm just so glad that, in addition to the support of our family and friends, we have the reassurance that God wouldn't bless us with her if we couldn't handle being parents. I know I haven't been as good about keeping up with my blog in recent months, but I'll keep on sitting down and typing out a post here and there when I can. No promises on how often, though - my world is about to make a big change :)

Photo courtesy of John-Morgan