Men's Moments
“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.” —Romans 8:19, 23
Memories. The Advent season involves a lot of memories. As we approach Christmas, we think about events that are coming up for us to enjoy, but there is always a chance to look back and remember. If you had to name a special Christmas memory, what would it be? Picking out the perfect tree? The smell of mother baking cookies? Hearing your favorite carol for the first time? Celebrating your first Christmas as a family? So many to choose from.
Christmas evokes powerful memories and with good reason. That’s precisely what’s it’s supposed to do. Christmas reminds us that God cares for us and watches over us. It reminds us of what God is like and what God wants us to be like. Once each year, Christmas comes to remind us of the things that truly matter.
The season of Advent involves a lot of waiting. Advent calendars are a special tool to show children that looking forward to Christmas involves waiting too. You begin to open the door for each day of Advent (25 days) and each door when opened has a special surprise. At our house instead of a calendar, we used interlocked circles of paper. Each evening one of the circles would be ripped off until Christmas Eve.
The end of Advent for this year 2024 brings a sense of sadness after all the gifts are opened and all the songs have been sung. Now the reality of winter is here and all creation in our area dies and turns brown. But for something new to happen the old has to die. That’s what the Christian life is all about.
In her book, All Creation Waits by Gayle Boss, she writes:
The practice of Advent has always been about helping us to grasp the mystery of a new beginning out of what looks like death. God’s creation of animals, manifest this mystery without question or doubt. The more I’m with animals and the more I learn about them, the more I know they can be more than our companions on this planet. They can be our guides. They can be to us “a book about God … a word of God,” the God who comes, even in the darkest season, to bring us a new beginning.
“But ask the animals. And they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?” Job 12:7–9.
One of the things I love to do this time of year is as soon as I prepare for the day, I go outside and refill the bird feeders. One, I put suet in for woodpeckers; another, I put thistle seed in for the finches; and the third, I put all around seed for the rest of the birds. I get a sense of satisfaction from feeding them. It’s my small way of helping God take care of his creation. At Jesus’ birth he was surrounded by animals. The shepherds were taking care of sheep. The animals have hope in the creator that they will arise from hibernation.
I will take hope also in new beginnings in a new year.