Advent Part 2ish

Well here's the post I said I was planning when I wrote my last post. (Oh my, that's such an obvious statement. That's painful.) This is in fact my second and last advent post, yes, I did miss a week or two. Finals and midnight showings do that. But the other week I saw from my dad's Facebook post (don't question) that one week of advent was about joy. Ooh! I know about joy too! Or so I claim.

Right now I'm feeling something that feels a lot like joy. I've been doing a lot of walking on air recently with really no reason for it besides the fact that God's awfully awesome. I could give specific reasons; The Hobbit is fantastic, finals are done, the Hobbit was everything I dreamed it would be, I have freedom to actually do things, the Hobbit. But as much as I could say those are "because I'm awesome and I rocked finals" or "because Peter Jackson is a genius" they're really just because God is awfully awesome. He likes to overwhelm me every now and then.

I did actually have something slightly new to add to my view of joy though. On the list of my personality quirks (such a long list, we'll never get through it) is my inability to express things I love. If I really really want something it's going to be the one thing I can't get myself to ask for. If I really really love something no matter how hard I try I can never get across to anyone how much I love it (this can be frustrating, it's why I like talking to people who similarly love whatever it is.) So the few times a year when I'm really joyful and overwhelmed with the amazingness that is God I can't possibly get it across. You may see a lot of exclamation points and geeking out but believe me, it's not anywhere near what I'm actually feeling.

I like to think that's how God feels about us. His love is so enormous that we can't possibly grasp it, as much as we try to understand it our concept of God's love will always fall short of the reality. His blessings that we see in our every day life are just the tiniest bit of how he displays it. But right now, of all times, we can probably remember a little better just how much God loves us and his greatest attempt to show us. What a great reason for Christmas joy.

The Better Part of Valour

This is an in between sort of post, I wanted a prelude to my next post. See, I'm pretty sure every single blogger, serious Facebooker, twitterer or whoever is out there to voice an opinion is going to say something about the shooting in Connecticut. I think it's assumed that you have to speak out and at least let the world know that you're praying for them, thus you're a good Christian.

You may wonder about the title of this blog. Well, most people probably know that humility isn't exactly a quality I possess in abundance but I'd like to show some now. A very few people probably realize that when something terrible happens to someone I know I'd rather not have to talk, I'd rather be able to do something. Unfortunately, while blogging is doing something it also involves talking. I'd rather not try.

I'd like to show that I care about this situation by not voicing my opinion because I'm not wise or insightful enough to say anything new and inspiring. I'd rather not add to the enormous muddle of articles and posts and blogs that are out there. I'm not saying anything against the posts I've seen, the only ones that are really messing things up are news sites and those apparently are beyond help. But I just don't want to add to the confusion of opinions with my own half-baked and uninformed opinion.

I'm not connected to this tragedy by any stretch of the imagination. I don't know any more than anyone else who reads news articles. I'm not any more insightful (actually probably less insightful) than anyone else who has a blog.

Now I realize that in posting this blog I have in fact added to the muddle. If I really wanted to carry out this desire of not talking I would have just continued to say nothing. But as I said, this is a prelude to my next post. My next post is planning on being extremely upbeat and jolly and I didn't want it to seem like I was disrespectful or didn't care about this shooting. I care and I'd like to show that I care by toning down on the attention it's getting, I'm thinking these people would probably like some space from the public eye rather than more posts about them.

Advent Part 1 (Or: Hope Revisited)

Gaude, gaude! Emmanuel
nascetur pro te, Israel.

This post was supposed to be for last Sunday but homework likes to build up until Sunday evenings, this cuts into blogging time. At the time when I'm writing this it is Thursday so we'll see if I actually get it done in one day.

It came to my attention in church on Sunday that the theme of the first advent candle was hope, an area of expertise on my part. (Hardly, more like a lesson I keep learning over and over.)

I don't really have anything enormous to add to what I said last time but I was interested by a new perspective on hope (and when I'm interested in something that means you get to hear about it). The season of Christmas in celebrating the birth of Jesus is preceded by all the years of hope between Eden and Bethlehem. That's a very long time to hope. That might manage to make us feel a little inadequate if not for the fact that the Israelites decided to go astray every other year or something akin to that.

It's still fascinating to think about though, for all those years all they had was God's word that he was sending a savior and the miracles he did for them in the meantime. We, meanwhile, have the testimony of the Bible and all sorts of saints and other Christians since (as well as your own personal experience with God) telling us that God did indeed send a savior and he's now the reason we hope.  It's a reason to continue the Thanksgiving season into the Christmas season, we can be so thankful that we have what prophets searched for and the things into which even angels long to look.

I guess this is my actual serious Thanksgiving blog combined with my first advent blog (and posted just before the second week of advent. I'm very on top of things.)