'Tis the Season

(Image from yourpowercentre.com.au)

Cards, shopping, gifts, travel, fund-raising, decorating.....whatever this is, it's probably not how the ancients spent their time in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

I, and perhaps you, too, are open to "a new way to experience Advent: desire and focus":

Desire: The key to a grace-filled Advent is to begin by identifying where I am experiencing darkness, despair, captivity and war.....We can’t say “Come, Lord Jesus” with any real meaning unless we have a felt experience of what it is we need. Once we experience our need, then the desire can formulate in our heart to ask for what we need.

Focus our attention whenever we can, especially during the “background” times of our day. These are the in between times – in the shower, getting dressed, walking down stairs, getting coffee, driving to work, walking down the hall, doing laundry....Whatever is going on in our minds and hearts during those “background” times can easily be refocused. It takes a little practice and some discipline, but it works.

In other words, a spiritual version of mindfulness.