Eagerly Wanting to Adore Christ

Closeup Detail from Adoring the Christ Child by Carl Von Marr

Over Advent I thought about what it would really mean if I waited with earnest for Christ to come.  Have I become complacent?  Do I even believe it will really happen?  Have I simply given up waiting?

Now, during Christmas, I am pondering what it would feel like to experience the awe of the second coming of Christ.  Can I even wrap my mind around it?  Do I dare dream about it--expect it?  Do I dare stretch on my tiptoes to eagerly watch for it?

"Want" and "expectation" have become negative words to many who have developed the practice of mindfulness in their lives.  Is there a place for them?  How does "want" differ from "hope"?

Advent - A Season of Longing and Desire

After my post last night, I have been pondering the connection I feel with longing and desire this Advent.  When I was a child, that longing and desire was displayed through circling all my favorite things in the Sears Christmas Catalog in hopes that my parents would buy them for me for Christmas gifts.  As I grew up, I felt that kind of wanting was childish and selfish, so I tried to burry it.

This year I am not longing for a list of material things, but I still feel that sense of wanting something.  And I want to feel it even more.  I never associated this song with Advent, yet it speaks to those deep embers of desire I want to turn into a flame 'Til all that I want All I desire is You - All that I need All that I require is You - Consume me.