Christmas Countdown 2020 Day 1

I think we all can agree 2020 has been the most unusual year for every single person on the planet. As I was thinking about what our Christmas Countdown would look like this year, I decided it needed to be a little different. 

I am assuming all of us will be reading some Advent materials and we will be focused on all things Christmas. Like you, we have anticipated the brightening of our home with lights and reminders of Christmas pasts.

We know our family gathering is going to have the shadow of Covid cast over it, but we are settled into the attitude this year has trained us to adopt.

We will be thankful for whoever we get to see. We will be content in our home even if no one is able to come. We will celebrate the birth of Christ and look with hope to His return.

So in light of the fact that we are all aware it is Christmas and we are all assuming it will be anything but business as usual, I want to spend our countdown looking at how we are called to live in these times that have been heralded continually as “unprecedented.”

In other words, none of us were properly trained in how to live in a pandemic, an election that was fraught with insanity and a socio-economic-culture tornado that has been doused with copious amounts of natural disasters.

And yet, we have. 

Several months ago I opened Max Lucado’s The Inspirational Bible https://www.amazon.com/Inspirational-Study-Bible-Century-Version/dp/0849950619 on a quiet day with the Fab Four and I began to read in 1 Thessalonians. 

As I read, I felt Paul could have been writing to us here in the upheaval and fear of 2020 and his words seemed to call out across the ages about how we are supposed to be living. As in, really living, whether we are in the middle of chaos or things are just going along like we thought they should.

I have been spending time since then handwriting out the passages in a journal and taking notes from some other resources. So this will be our Journey towards the celebration of Christmas this year. I will be sharing some thoughts and prayers based on passages from 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

Time is short during the holiday season and we have a lot of things going on, but I hope you will stop by each day for a short thought from the truths of Scripture. You know me, I will be throwing in some family fun and photos and who knows what-not along the way. 

I am looking forward to journeying to Christmas Day with you …

so I look forward to meeting you here tomorrow…

with coffee or hot tea or cocoa or whatever your holiday beverage is and let’s see how to finish 2020 well <3