advent...

For the first time... in recent memory... all is calm.   The preparation is complete... the wait is almost over...  that, for which we have counted down, will soon be upon us.... an eagerly anticipated advent.

Tonight, next to the candlelight, I'm reflecting on the prophets of old... those who were given a glimpse of what was to come... those wise men to whom the LORD entrusted a morsel of truth concerning His Son... our Messiah... Emmanuel... God with us....

Just as those, wiser than I, eagerly anticipated the advent... the arrival... of the King who would come to free Israel... I find myself eagerly anticipating His arrival again!  Tonight I am homesick for a place I have yet to see... longing to see loved ones who have gone before... pining for a chance to see HIM face to face... 

Here in the glow of the advent candles (that I wish we would have been more faithful to commemorate this season) I await His arrival to free me from this fallen world... deliver me from my fragile body... release me from my sinful self....  

Advent... eagerly anticipating the return of the Risen One... Emmanuel...