Let's light the Candle of Hope - Advent One
The word “Advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming” or “arrival”. It’s a time of anticipation and expectation of the birth of Jesus. In many churches around the world, the four Sunday’s before Christmas Day, a candle is lit. Each candle represents different things for each denomination. Our churches uses the words: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace. Other churches use words like: prophecy, preparation and expectation.
If you’d like to learn more about the Advent Wreath and it’s origin and meaning check out my post from last year “What Is Your Christmas Tradition”.
On the first Sunday of Advent this year, we lit the first candle of Hope at our church. We were reminded of the words from the prophet Isaiah:
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on the them light has shined.”
Snowmagedden
Last year, here in Texas we had “Snowmagedden”!!! In early February, it sleeted and snowed for several days and for almost a week the temperatures stayed in the uppers 20’s. Many people across the state lost power for 3-5 days!
My daughter and son-in-law lost power for almost 4 days. She said that one of the hardest things (beside trying to stay warm) was that when it got dark around 5:00pm, you felt like it was time for bed. Plus, it was hard playing games by candlelight. I know that if you live in the North, you are thinking “what pansies!” but here in Texas we don’t usually get snow, we just get sleet. Plus, people have no idea how to drive on ice or snow!
One thing that was nice to see during “Snowmagedden” was people reaching out to everyone and making sure they were okay. People with power were inviting family and friends to come stay with them until their power came back on. Sharing food and meals with their neighbors.
Light Bulbs
When I started thinking about this Bible journaling page, the first thing that popped into my head was light bulbs. There are so many different shapes and sizes now that this really made it a fun page.
After drawing all the light bulbs onto my margin journaling Bible, I painted a light wash of black watercolor using an aquabrush. You can find different brands of aquabrushes on Amazon but the one I usually use is not available. I’ve not used the ones that they have, so I didn’t want to recommend a product that I’ve not used before. After the black was dry, I added yellow around all the light bulbs. I added a bit of Wink of Stella to the filaments of the light bulbs but it’s very hard to see in the photograph. It just added a little shimmer to the page. To finish the page, I wrote “Light of the World’, highlighted my verse, added white accents and dated my page.
This was a very simple page but I’m reminded that being in the dark without Jesus is not simple at all. It can be lonely, scary and depressing.
We must give our lives, every part of our lives, to Jesus. Then He will share with us, His light. One of the most important reasons for God giving us His “Light of the World” was so that He’s people would no longer have to walk in darkness.
Jesus is indeed the light of the world.
I pray that you take time this Advent season to spend time in God's word and don't forget to share the light of Christ with others!