Advent Week 1: Beauty & Creativity

Today is the first day of Advent – the season of waiting for the coming of Jesus.  It is filled with expectation, anticipation and excitement.  Advent is just 4 weeks long as we look towards Christmas and the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, but if we zoom out and look at the Biblical story, there were many, many more centuries of waiting for Christ’s coming!  As kids, it’s hard waiting just 4 weeks till Christmas, but think about 400 years of waiting for a sign from God between where the Old Testament leaves off and the start of the New Testament when Jesus was born!  That, of course, is more than a lifetime! 

This year, we had a countdown to get to Advent, let alone Christmas.  Micah was so excited for Advent to arrive so we could then look forward to Christmas.  Every day one of the first questions as he walked out of his room, still in his pajamas, was “Is it Christmas?”  Finally, today Advent has arrived!  Now he asks "Is it Advent?" 

Many of you know that I (Becky) grew up on a Christmas Tree farm.  Hague’s Christmas Trees, to be precise.  It was there that I learned to make wreaths.  So, given this time of year and being far from my family and the family farm, I’m increasingly homesick.  But, I’m driven to discover the beauty of God’s creation and this season of the church year in a new place.  As I hunted around for evergreens and other things in nature that can symbolize Jesus’ birth, I found comfort.  Not just in the familiarity of gathering plants and arranging them to make beautiful things, but comfort in the steadfastness of God.  He has been with me through each Christmas celebration in a familiar place, surrounded by extended family and friends, and He is with me now in a foreign land with all new people besides my husband and kids.  God is faithful and true in each place and phase of life.

So, although it is averaging between 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit here most days and hopefully getting hotter soon (did I just say that?!?!) so that the rains will come, we are decorating for Christmas!  I’ll admit it feels a bit strange, yet strangely normal as we pull out the few familiar ornaments we brought along and dig out the decorations that have been left in this house by previous missionaries.  Of course, we will not, for the first time EVER, have a REAL Christmas tree, but given the climate and circumstances, I think I’ll be pardoned by my family for this “season” of life.  We were able to secure a few branches of evergreens from some tall trees at a friend’s house to make an Advent wreath…and I brought along a “Sparkling Pine” scented Yankee candle so that it can at least smell like the wreath barn back home.  (I actually started smelling it months ago. Because of how hot it is, it gave off fragrance without even being lit!)

This year, since Micah is 3 (and a half!), we are able to do more coherent family devotions throughout Advent.  This is very exciting!  Not only because we can do something together as a family each day to remind us of Christ’s coming to earth because He loves us, but because Micah is understanding who God is and why we celebrate Jesus rather than fixating on gift giving and receiving (which can be a very healthy part of Christmas celebrations, don’t get me wrong, it’s just not the be-all, end-all of what Christmas is all about).  Symbols, like gifts, are an important part of celebrating holidays which express my faith.  So, as you decorate this year, I encourage you to think about what symbols you have around you and what they remind you of as you “walk” to Bethlehem to meet this newborn King, Jesus. 

Here are some symbols we have this year:

Evergreen wreath – Green symbolizes life.  Evergreens remain green through hot and cold weather, unlike any other tree, which reminds us of God’s faithfulness.  The circle is never ending, just like God’s love for us.

Seed pods – These are dropping from trees everywhere !  The pods on our wreath this year remind me of open arms – the posture I picture God in as He gives the gift of Christ to the world and the posture of those who believe as they receive the gift of His love and salvation.  Seed pods are also the way new trees/plants are planted.  We are reminded by them to continue telling others about Jesus, “planting” the seeds of good news!

Red leaves – Red is a symbol of Jesus.  Even at Christmas, when we celebrate his birth, we remember why he came to earth – to die in our place, to take the punishment we deserve for turning away from God.  Jesus’ redeeming blood gives us new life. 

Candles – We use candles at Christmas to represent Christ, our light, the light of the whole world. John 8:12 is quoting Jesus: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” One of my favorite verses of all time, 1 John 1:5 says “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”   ***Go ahead, pretend you’re in Malawi during one of our many power outages: Turn out all your lights (yes, all of them) and light a candle. Then light some more…it’s quite striking how very much light can come from just one, but then, as more join it, how glorious! When all you have is darkness, light is very attractive! Jesus is that light in the darkness of the world around us. And he wants us to be that light, too! ***

Stars – If you look around the candles in our wreath, you’ll find more seed pods, but they are in the shape of stars!  God’s beauty is all around us, just keep looking for it!  I found these in the gutters around our house (gutters are on the ground here) and was just delighted to find such intricate beauty in something that is dead and falls off trees – yet when planted, grows anew!  Stars remind us of the star that led the wise men to find baby Jesus, even though they weren’t Jewish (those who were expecting a Messiah to come in the first place).  They sought out this King to worship him.  At Christmas, we seek God’s face.  We seek to find God’s love given to us so tangibly through Jesus.  We seek to live out God’s love by loving others.  

Angels – The craft in our Advent devotional book today was to make angel decorations.  These remind us of the messenger God sent to inform Mary that she was pleasing in God’s eyes and would carry the baby Messiah into the world and name him Jesus.  There are more angels to come in this story too, but we’re just on day one today :) Luke 1:26-32.

I love symbolism!  It keeps my celebrations centered and my life alive with meaning.  Yes, I have some ornaments that Micah asks about that don’t evidently fit into the Christmas story at all, like a ball with blue buttons all over it, but ultimately, this reminds me of beauty and creativity.  God delights in beauty and has made us creative beings like Himself.  So, I encourage you to seek and find beauty around you this Advent season – glorify God through your creativity in worshiping Jesus.