Devotional 12-20-19

A Recurring Advent Calendar

Recently my friend and I were walking through Home Goods, one of our favorite places to “window shop,” when we spied some beautiful Advent calendars. We discussed the different shapes and sizes, and the fact that most included some sort of bite-sized candy to be eaten as the countdown to Christmas Day progressed, and little windows were opened to reveal a Christmas picture. We also were a little upset that neither one of us had received an Advent calendar when we were children. I don’t know if we were not worthy or our parents thought that there was already enough sugar being distributed though family gatherings and Christmas parties. As an adult, I did receive a handmade calendar that has been part of my family’s Christmas tradition since 1975.

The many calendars at Home Goods reminded me of a posting that had come across my Facebook page in early October. It came from a website called The Passionate Penny Pincher. The title of the posting was “A Reverse Advent Calendar.” The idea was to place a different food item in a box each day from December first through the twenty-fifth and then take the box to a food pantry or food bank. Instead of taking a piece of candy each day leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ, we would be giving a food item to someone in need.

Right now, some of you are thinking, “That’s a good idea, but it’s the end of December, too late to begin an Advent project. You’re right! But we can do something even better! Let’s make a recurring Advent calendar! Let’s mark the calendar with a checkmark or sticker as we fill the box with one food item each day, and then take the box to a food pantry at the end of every month. We can show our thankfulness for God’s Son by feeding His earthly children. I think He’d like that much better than a Christmas tie.

Below are the lyrics to the song “Thankful,” written by David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager. The words are beautiful by themselves, but take the time to find the song sung by Josh Groban on YouTube or on his CD, Noel. You’ll be thankful that you did.

“Thankful”
Somedays, we forget to look around us.
Somedays, we can’t see the joy that surrounds us.
So caught up inside ourselves,
We take when we should give.
So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be,
And on this day, we hope for
What we still can’t see.
It’s up to us, to be the change,
And even though we all can still do more,
There’s so much to be thankful for.
Amen

Becky Warren