"That Life was the Light of Men"--John 1:4

Before anyone ever talked about Seasonal Affective Disorder, I found myself growing depressed as summer ended, the cool fall arrived, and the winter plunged us into darkness.  I hated winter.  The Winter Solstice was my hope: from the day forward, I reasoned, we would gain more light.  Through many years of personal darkness, I looked to this day for relief. 

When I lived in northern France, I remember hearing the news in December: "16 hours of daylight this month!"  "How will it be possible to live here?!" I wondered.  

But in January, the tilt of the planet meant northern France gobbled up darkness much more quickly than at Georgia's latitude.  By the end of January, we had already gained two hours, and by the Summer Solstice, I could sit outside in the light until 11.  It took me exactly one year to love that! 

 

Well, I grew up a lot in France, and have since found firmer footing, a firmer foundation, and my Hope goes a lot deeper than a calendar event! 

In a word, JESUS!!!  Whose “life was the light of men.”

Thank God not only for the light of the sun, for the Light of the World.  

 Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen

Gaudete Sunday

Gaudete--the Latin word for Rejoice!  And our theme for Week 3 is Joy. 

What is joy? 

It is a bird that we all want to catch.

It is the same bird that we all love to see flying.

—Sri Chimnoy

Where do you find joy?  What are you celebrating this Advent?

Although I am not a fan of this poet, his poem captures the lovely, elusive, wild nature of joy--hard to tame, nor do we want to.  We just want to catch it now and then, don't we?

Wild shore birds feature in my Advent book, and these words will soon find their way into the book as well.  (And some day I'll master posting photos on this blog so you can see it!)

How are you doing on your book?  What is the Lord teaching you?  I've loved seeing some of the work, and hearing some of the stories.

And we now have visitors to the blog from Russia, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, France, Ireland and Bolivia, as well as the US and UK!  Over 500 hits...Advent is a 'hit' this year!   

Week 3 Meditations, Creative Process and Materials are posted.

Have a joyful week creating! 

Hope: Living in the Now and the Not Yet

Well, we are definitely living in the "now" and the "not yet" with this blog!

For some reason, even though there are 11 of us registered as members, no members are showing on some of your screens, including mine.  Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not.  Silvi and I are still trying to sort out the glitches, so we can streamline this, but time is elusive and jet lag abounds...but we have hope!

18 people are now involved in the Creative Advent journey, from Brazil to Bulgaria!  We'd love to hear from ALL of you, and if you send us photos of your work, we'll post in the "Gallery" (to the left).  Let's see what you're working on!   

Seven of us met last Monday in Tyrone, GA, to begin our adventure together.  It was a sweet and powerful time.  We took communion together, prayed, and then set to with a vengeance!  Images were flying in all directions, out of magazines and into piles.  The goal was to get some direction for the first theme--Preparation--make the accordion book and cover its outside with paint or image or word, and begin to assemble images for the first page layout on the inside.  We'll finalize this coming Monday, and begin on our second theme, Hope.

Week 2 Meditation, Materials & Creative Process are posted on the left sidebars.  If you have any questions, you can put them in the comments below and we'll try to help. 

Enjoy your week!