Slow Advent: A devotional for homesteaders and those who long for a simple life

What comes to mind when you hear the word “Advent”?

Do you think of cute calendars with doors, filled with chocolate, toys, socks, or wine? A stack of wrapped picture books to be opened one by one throughout December? A countdown of activities to do before Christmas?

All of these ideas are great ways to celebrate the weeks leading up to the big day, but in them we sometimes miss the bigger picture of the meaning of Advent.

The word Advent comes from a Latin word simply meaning coming. In the traditional sense, the weeks of Advent on our calendars are meant to be a time of reflecting back on when Jesus came to earth as a baby, and looking ahead to when he will come again.

Hanging in that balance between the now and the not yet.

There is an interesting space in the Bible between the Old and New Testaments. For about 400 years there were no prophets. No words from God. Think of all the generations that came and went, making their sacrifices at the temple and saying their prayers and receiving nothing in return, simply hoping for the promised Messiah to come.

And we thought a 9-month pregnancy was a long time…

It’s in this space that we park during the season of Advent. The longing. The promise of something special to come. We read, we pray, we study, we gather with others — keeping in mind that Christmas isn’t here just yet. There will be opportunity to throw sprinkles and glitter and crumpled up wrapping paper in a few short weeks.

If you find Christmas Day on your December calendar, then count four Sundays before it, you’ll find the first day of the Advent season. But since Christmas can happen any of the seven days of the week, the length of Advent varies each year. The first day of Advent will fall sometime in the last few days of November or the first few days of December.

A couple of years ago I wrote a little ebook called Slow Advent: A devotional for homesteaders and those who long for a simple life. Because I want it to be able to be used year after year, but without making adjustments for the different days of Advent, I decided to make it simply a December devotional. However, I encourage you to think about and celebrate when Advent truly does begin — in the liturgical (church) calendar, the first day of Advent is actually the first day of the new year.

One of these years I plan to self-publish it on Amazon (or maybe even pitch it to a traditional publishing company!) so that you can easily hold it in your hands. For now, you can purchase it for $6, and either read it on your screen or print it and staple/hole punch/bind it yourself. Thank you for supporting my writing in this small, tangible way! 💚

I hope these short daily reflections will invite you this season to try and slow down. Slow your heart and your mind (maybe even your calendar if you can), and remember what it’s like to wait… to anticipate… to long for something.