advent in the heart and home (guest post by Naptime Diaries)

Hi! I'm Jessi from Naptime Diaries & I'm so honored to share about Advent in my heart & home.

It's that time of year.

And this is what I keep thinking about Advent.

It's all a choice.

We can be glad it's over or we can squeeze it all out, till the last drop - looking back glad it happened and sad it's over and overjoyed that it will come again.

Can I get real vulnerable with you sweet ladies for a minute?

Last Christmas, last advent - this mama was a hot mess. I was living through some physical depression, some spiritual depression, and some just downright hard times.

And somehow, we made it through in one piece. Through advent and Christmas and the twinkling lights and everything.

And when it was over, I sighed in relief.

And after a full year of blessings and trials. Days that were wonderful and days that were hard.

We find ourselves in a precarious season, again. Lots of transition. Lots of the potential pain that none of us can escape when we live in this fallen world.

And this year, the only thing that is majorly different is that I'm making a choice.

This season, to the best of my ability, I want to lead my family in drawing near and soaking up the celebration of Jesus' birth so that no matter what - we feel like we've lived it to the full. I want to eradicate the things and the activities that will have us saying "glad that's over" and do all the things that make us think, "I can't wait to celebrate Jesus like that again".

We're doing advent in these hearts and these homes just like that.

Squeezing it out and begging for more and more and more of His presence.

More of His joy.

And when it's over, we'll hopefully sigh with a contented fullness.

Ready for next year.