Spiritual Journey Thursday & Poetry Friday: Hope for Dark Days

I did not grow up with a religious tradition that focused on Advent. However, I am increasingly drawn to it. I've collected a few quotes and shared some resources that I enjoy during this season of Advent. 

1. From my small devotional book, Christ the Light of the World by Thomas Kinkade:

"Advent is an invitation to an inward preparation, calling us to listen, to attend to the preparation of the heart. Advent calls us to stop-however briefly-all of the frenetic and doing and invites us to come into an experience of the holy."

"... in the days to come I ask you to sit quietly with the images from my brush and imagination, images that are meant to beckon you into a world of stillness. Allow your heart to wander on a reflective journey through the season of Advent even as you attend to the demands of December. 'The journey begins with Advent,' wrote author Jan Richardson. 'Advent is a dance set to the rhythm of waiting. We wait for the holy, we wait for the birth, we wait for the light . . . Advent reminds us that we are a pregnant people, for God calls each of us to bring forth the Christ.'"

I love the words, "Allow your heart to wander on a reflective journey..." 

2. This concluding paragraph in the essay "Dirty Feathered Hope" from Wayfare:

"Jesus brought unfaltering hope into the world quietly. Only those who were already oriented toward Him could see it at first: the magi watching the skies; the shepherds who followed the angelic summons to witness Him in the manger; the imperfect but willing mother who risked her social standing, her marriage, and even her life to bring the Savior into the world. Hope might have felt far away to the families whose babies were killed in Herod’s decree or the followers gathered at the foot of the cross in Golgotha. It might feel far to you as you navigate the bruises and pains of mortality, tangled in situations that feel like they have no solution. But Jesus Christ keeps His promises. We can’t see the way it will all work out quite yet, but we can hope with surety and without shame. The Light has come into the world. Every one of us will fly again."   

 3. This poem from the book Christmas Blessings: Prayers and Poems to Celebrate the Season compiled by June Cotner (which I first shared for Poetry Friday in 2014):

For Christmas

May you have joy
in the mad rush
of preparation:
may you know peace
in the tiny margins
of time around
the busy days;
may you have star-shine
in clear night skies
for looking at:
may you have silence
now and then;
and above all-
beyond all else-
may you have love
to give
and to receive.

- Elizabeth Searle Lamb

Dear blogging friends, I wish you joy, peace, star-shine, silence, and love "...in the tiny margins of time around the busy days..." 

Enjoy this season of darkness while waiting for the light!