Continuing advent

I've been quiet on the topic of Advent for the last week or so. We didn't give up on it, I just haven't written about it. It has been a rich season for our family, as we sought to bring more of the true meaning of Christmas back to our day-to-day December existence.

I told you early in the month that I was going out on a limb to tell you of my plans. See, one of my insecurities is a belief about myself that I start things only to fail. That I make a plan only to drop it. That I don't have good follow through. I'm learning to extend grace to myself, to not be such a perfectionist. For example. Early in December (perhaps the 3rd, I don't remember) we missed a night of Advent. I had wanted to be sure to do a reading every day, and I failed. Or at least that's the old way of thinking about it. And according to the old pattern of doing life, I may have tossed up my hands and packed away the devotional books for next year.

But this year was different. God has been making progress on my heart! :) (and in my mind) When I realized we had missed a couple days, I also realized it was because we didn't sit down for dinner together at home. I thought it appropriate to change my goal. Recognizing that this is a busy season of year, and we have a lot of reasons why we're not at our own dinner table nightly, I decided to try to have an advent devotional each time we were at the dinner table together. This proved to be a very realistic goal for us. We have had some good family times together.

Most recently, we have been using a tool I bought a few years ago. Focus on the Family was selling Adornaments, and I bought a set. It is a set of 12 cardboard ornaments that have a name of Jesus on them. They have a verse and a devotional thought. When we get around to it, I let each child choose one, read it, and hang it on the tree. (When Abby reads hers it sounds a lot like a compilation of several Awana Bible verses she has learned, "An' Dod said, He made evweting bootiful, you shall not obey. . . " I"m not sure why she changed the verse to "not obey", but she's pretty consistent)

So, that's us for Advent. Thanks for reading and talking with me about it some. It's been helpful to know that there are people out there who know what I wanted to try - it makes me slower to give up. And we've had some great family conversations about several topics. Yesterday's advent time turned into a discussion about the armor of God. . . It's not so much WHAT we talk about, but the fact that we're having spiritual conversations as a family. It's very, very good.