I may be more excited about advent this year than I have been in a long time. I like many have come to dread advent because it meant having ten thousand things to do and ten thousand obligations. I'm committed to doing advent differently this year and I'm very excited about the possibilities that that will represent.
I've been inspired by a number of groups both spiritual and secular who all make good critics of the way the holiday season is done by many. It has been a good spiritual practice for me to reflect on how I have been celebrating or missing celebrating this upcoming season.
My plan is this; first be intentional about my spirituality during advent. I plan to explore what the season has to offer to my soul in as many ways as I can, to hopefully regain that sense of wonder about the season. Second I plan to be more open to those around me during the season, sharing my time and enjoying doing so rather than seeing all the extra things that take place during advent as obligations I'm going to focus on the joy of being around the people I love during the season. Third I'm going to do my best to be socially responsible in my gift giving. I plan on making the gifts I give unique, socially responsible and from the heart. Hopefully this will help make me feel more connected with those I am getting the gifts for, and I hope they will feel the care that will go into these gifts. Fourth, I plan to be intentional about carrying this reflection and the incites gained beyond the holiday season and into the dawning of a New Year.
So as I said I'm excited. In some ways I feel like a child again looking forward to the season, only this time it is not because of the physical gifts that the season has to offer, but rather because of ways the season can make me a better gift giver and receiver. The gift I hope for most this year is a Advent and Christmas season full of wonder, fellowship, love and new discovery.
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