The dark and light of Advent

A blog post I read yesterday commented that this has been a dark Advent season, and the phrase has stuck with me.  There are so many horrible and terrifying things happening in the world around us, and so much un-loving going on by those in our country in response.  "Peace on earth" is a common platitude to hear during this season but I think we all need to give it some more serious thought and prayer than perhaps we normally do.

So I've not only been feeling very sad about all these tragic events but rather guilty too.  Because what am I doing about it?  What can I do about it?  A theological thought that has been brought to the forefront of my faith by seminary is that I as a Christian have a responsibility to help bring God's love and God's kingdom into being here on earth, now.  But what in the world can I do?  What do I actually want to do?  It's very easy to hide in my little corner of the world and focus on my family.  Which is in fact what I've been doing, because my two little shining lights are blissfully ignorant of what's going on in the world around them, and there is no sense or point in bringing the darkness into their lives, not yet.

And so in caring for them I have my temporary escape from the darkness.  And for better or worse, we got to spend our Saturday setting up our Christmas tree, fresh from the farm!

We took a hay ride over the hills and through the woods to pick out our Christmas tree.

Mercifully we didn't lose track of this quick footed one in the grove of pine trees, but he sure had fun giving us a run for our money!

Tree victory!  Hooray for super Hubby!

Then they humored me by posing in Santa's sled while Daddy loaded the tree in the car.

How privileged most of us are to be troubled by the news but not directly impacted.  The darkness of this season may not go away, it may even get worse, so I guess it's fitting that we're in a season of Advent, of waiting for the light of the world to come into the world.  We're all here waiting God, please show up through us and show up for us.  We're all waiting...