Following the Star

I am often unprepared for the beginning of Advent. This year, I figured out why.

Back in the middle of October I was shopping in a department store when I realized that the sickly sweet music playing from the speakers above me was Christmas music. In case you missed it, this was in the middle of October! I was horrified. I think I might have even been there to buy some piece of a Halloween costume. How dare they try to get me thinking about Christmas before we’d even lit the candle in our jack-o-lantern.  As you can tell, I was still stewing about it much later. In fact, every time I saw a wreath on an office building or saw twinkle lights in a tree, I just shuddered. “It’s not Thanksgiving yet!” I’d say to anyone who would listen.

Unfortunately, I was a little too good at pushing off the Christmas season for a more appropriate time. Thanksgiving has come and gone and now I’m in shock. “It’s Advent already?!?” Yes, it is officially the beginning of a new church year. Our season of waiting has begun.

As you enter this holy season, you don’t have to rely on the Christmas songs in the stores or the inflatable lawn characters to remind you of Christ’s birth. Instead, when you turn on your computer each day, visit the online daily Advent devotional, “Following the Star.” Listen for the ways that God may be calling you.

How will you follow?