Resplendent Promise
Dear friend,
It feels like darkness is lurking around the corner with bleak isolated shadows covering the land like an external calculated seclusion. I hear whispers of fear, anticipating hopelessness to come as the holidays approach. Cancelled plans weighs heavy, forecasting a spirit of fatigue.
More months without seeing loved ones. Heart-breaking decisions not made lightly or without sadness.
I keep hearing that we need to prepare for the worst. Prepare for darkness. Prepare to isolate and keep distant. Not only have I heard it, I’ve spoken it out, whispering it to myself and others in moments when I’ve forgotten there’s more than this.
But, my friend, there’s another word that pierces through the darkness and disrupts isolation. A word that sweeps the shadows, uncovers the gloom, and agitates anticipated seclusion.
Advent.
While this word doesn’t remove the disappointment, discouragement, and uncertainty, it does bring another perspective and way of seeing this season. Instead of darkness and despair being our guide, light and hope provide enough for us to see one step ahead of the next.
This has been a year of diminished and rattled expectations for everyone as we’ve tried to protect our loved ones. But I haven’t seen any of you stop living. I’ve seen you expand what life looks like—at times flexibly adapting and other times rigidly ceasing. I’ve seen you brazenly approach life with obscene possibility, forging paths through overgrown brambles where no person ventured before you. You’ve been the guide and the follower. It hasn’t been easy and there have been abundant mistakes, but grace abounds, dear friend. Take some grace for yourself and those around you. I've heard rumors of smaller burdens with shared lighter loads; grace-filled promises that we're not alone.
What I want you to know is the darkness will fight hard and it might feel like the darkness could win. But there’s a promise of gentle, inviting, beckoning warmth that shines in the dark cold and the dark is forever befuddled by it.
Look, dear friend, just beyond the horizon!
A light shines forth bringing a new way forward, revealing you’re not alone.
With (love),
Bethany