Advent Week 2: Peace and Vigilance

If you’re just hopping in here, last week I shared how the first candle of Advent represents hope. And for the first time ever, I connected hope to being awake. Not awake like not tired, but awake to God. Awake to the ways Christ is already moving. Awake to what I’ve been ignoring. So this week I’m sharing the words that were shared with me for week two, as we move into it. Peace and vigilance. Neither of these were talked about in our homily today but that doesn’t mean God can’t use them to speak into my week. Peace feels obvious. Vigilance needed a minute. Vigilance means keeping watch, staying alert, not drifting into spiritual autopilot.

The more I sit with these two words, the more I’m noticing how uncomfortable we are with waiting. I’ve been listening to Father Mike’s Wait and Be Well and Hallow’s Be Still and I can’t stop thinking about how often we try to escape the very moment we’re standing in. One example in Father Mike's was an example of being at the grocery store. None of us just wait in line anymore. We grab our phones. We scroll. We distract. And in that tiny habit we lose the chance to bring Christ into the moment. So this week I’m choosing not to escape. I’m sitting in the discomfort instead of running from it. I’m inviting Christ to sit with me in the moments where I feel restless or overwhelmed or tempted to numb out. I’m choosing to be vigilant in those little seconds where God is actually trying to get my attention. And I’m finding peace in remembering that God only asks me to be. Not to perform, or to strive....Just be. He has me. He has you too.

My pastor’s theme this season is probably something brought up every Advent but it’s brand new to me. This is a season of waiting and a season of preparation. For at an hour we do not know He will come again. And he said something today that stuck with me, "Some people come to confession out of obligation instead of the spirit of true repentance. Faith alone will not preserve us from the wrath of God. We have to live out our baptism. Is religion a means of entertainment for us or a life changing encounter with God".... eeeek. I better get to confession, lol.

And then, to add more, this last week Chris Pratt on Hallow comes in with this reflection on keeping the Sabbath holy. He said God rested. God rested. So when we sit there with every excuse in the world not to slow down, remember that God rested. When we interrupt our day of rest, we interrupt our very design. So today I’m resting. And making my family do so too! I'm reflecting and letting God recharge me so I can actually live this out during the week. And I’m inviting you to do the same.

As a mom and wife, where I am really focusing is dropping my egos in the moments of wanting to do things my way, and inviting Christ into the moments to show me how to let go, surrender, and act as He would.

If you’re not on Hallow yet you really need to be. Wishing you the best week ever. God bless.