“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”

In my life there have been many seasons. Seasons of excitement, seasons of learning, seasons of joy. There have also been seasons of change, seasons of pain, seasons of unrest. At times it’s as if I have been able to sense change happening, starting.

Often, there have been tangible markers to these seasons, whether it be relational, geographical, emotional, financial, or other. Places in my life that I can point to and see a tangible change. But it’s more than that. It’s a deeper stirring in the heart that is hard to define.

Sometimes what is in my heart manifests in confusion. I find myself questioning many areas of my life. My choices – are they right choices? I question my giftedness, my purpose, my roles. I wonder where I fit in this phase of life. What is God doing? What is He preparing me/us for?

Sometimes this unrest spills out in anger. Anger at the hurts, intentional and unintentional, anger at myself for not being better, for struggling.

Sometimes it makes me want to withdraw, to stay in my comfort zone, to not try…

In these seasons, I wonder if the unrest happens because my eyes are focusing on the things of this world? Grumbling because I am not as financially free or secure as I might like, using Southern Living and other women as measuring sticks, yearning after an American dream of comfort and independence.

Does it come from my desire for control and order in my world?

There are those moments, though, that I suspect give clarity to all the others. It is in these moments that I recognize the Holy Spirit is at work. And while yes, it is because of my worldly idols, my desire for control, ultimately the unrest is a stirring of the Lord. It is a tilling of the soil, an uprooting of the idols of comfort and control. It is a stage, a step. A purifying process of sorts. And I know that it is good, and I know that He is trustworthy. But I also know it can be uncomfortable and unpleasant and lonely.   And while I may sense His stirring, I don’t know His plan. I don’t know when I will find the answers. So I wait.

I wait for Peace.

I wait for Joy.

I wait for Answers.

And I begin to understand it’s a season of Advent.

And I’m not that different from the Israelites.

Hundreds of years they waited. Waited for the Promised One.

Waited for Peace.

Waited for Joy.

Waited for Answers.

They wandered, losing their homes. Losing their comforts.

I am sure there were moments of anger, moments of confusion, moments of happiness and moments of clarity.

I so often think of Advent as the joyous time, and it is. But it can also be a serious time. A trying time. A time of preparing. It was because of pain and brokenness that we needed a Savior. It was because of our desperation and need that there was the first Advent. That first Advent, that first period of waiting was uncomfortable and unpleasant, I’m sure, as God’s people waited on the Redeemer, the Messiah.   Advent is a joyous time now because of the culmination of that first advent season.

God was stirring, preparing His people for something.

They didn’t know when. They didn’t know how.

But when they were ready he came just as He promised.

The Prince of Peace.

Good News of Great Joy.

Immanuel, God with Us.

The culmination of that first Advent Season gives meaning and clarity to every other season in our life.

Can you relate? Have you ever waited? Wondered? Wandered? Searched?  Can you see yourself in the Israelites?

Because of that first Advent, when there are seasons of waiting in life, we can celebrate as we wait. Whether in learning, in celebrating, questioning; whether in mourning, in longing, or in searching for peace and joy, We can rejoice because every season of life is colored by the brilliance of that first Advent.

Because the Prince of Peace reigns.

Because the Good news of Great Joy is just as true today as it was that first Christmas night.

Because Immanuel has come.

The culmination of that first Advent Season gives meaning and clarity to every other season in our life.

And perhaps, these seasons of stirring, these seasons of unrest, the periods of waiting for answers isn’t just a hardship, but perhaps it is also a gift.

Because it means God is working.

Without the unrest, can we recognize His Peace?

Without the tears, can we rejoice when He wipes them?

Without the questions, can we appreciate the One who Answers?

Without a Season of Winter, do we appreciate the Season of Spring?

Maybe just as a child anticipates and rejoices in our Christmas Advent season we need to rejoice and anticipate Him in every season of life. Even the seasons of unrest. And just as a child eagerly unwraps the candy or hangs the ornament from a Advent calendar because its one step closer to Christmas, we should eagerly unwrap each day, each question, each moment because its one step closer to Him.

For there will be a day when amidst the waiting, amidst the trusting, the season of waiting and hurting will end. It may come as quietly and unexpectedly as a tiny baby king in a run-down stable, but it will come. Maybe it is in the open arms of a child, an invitation, an honest answer from a dear friend you don’t yet know. Maybe it is in a change of circumstances or just a change of heart. But there you are, and before you know it, there are tiny green shoots sprouting everywhere in the barren land. Spring is coming. A new season.

A season of Peace

A season of Joy

A season of Answers

The People who have walked in darkness have seen a great light;

Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shined,

You have multiplied the nation, you have increased is joy, they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest….

For unto as child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will BE NO END….