Our soul waits for the Lord;

He is our help and our shield.

For our heart shall rejoice in Him,

Because we have trusted in His holy name.

Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,

Just as we hope in You.

—Psalm 33:20–22

Do you ever fall short of your own expectations, in spite of your best intentions?

That’s what my entire life has felt like lately.

That pristine house I fantasize about? A cluttered, dusty domicile.

Those brilliant chapters I imagine will flow from my fingers when I sit at my computer to write? Not forthcoming.

The undistracted quality time I plan to spend with God and with my family? I might be physically present, but my mind is often elsewhere.

And this week, I had every intention of posting my blog on time. I wanted to write a long, well-researched post about the season of Advent and wax poetic about how much I love it and why.

Yet here I am, at 5:10 a.m. on a Saturday morning, having not slept, typing this blog post while listening to an incredible organ channel I recently discovered in my search to find Advent hymns to bolster my spirit over the next couple of weeks.

I’m weary, in every sense of the word. I’ve been in burnout mode for so long I couldn’t even tell you the last time I felt truly rested.

But sitting here in this moment, pondering these things, reminds me of why I do love Advent.

The season focuses on Jesus Christ’s first coming, His incarnation, as well as His Second Coming. While we celebrate and give thanks for His birth at Christmas, we also look for His return. The day when He “will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away,” the day when He will “make all things new” (Revelation 22:4–5a). We know this will one day happen because Jesus told the Apostle John, “Write, for these words are true and faithful” (Revelation 22:5b).

My weariness with life in this world and everything it entails—exhausting work, fraught relationships, sickness, sin, evil, death, etc.—is precisely what makes me long for Christ’s return.

This Advent, I pray that He gently prods me to spend more time with Him and in His Word. To take to heart Jesus’s words in Matthew 11:28–30: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” To continue praying, as I do every day, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Dear sister in Christ, in these days ahead, won’t you join me on this Advent quest?

With love in Christ,

Amanda

xoxo

Scripture taken from the New King James Version^®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.