{"id":3936,"date":"2016-12-08T11:55:57","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T17:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/?p=3936"},"modified":"2016-12-08T11:57:32","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T17:57:32","slug":"meeting-jesus-quiet-crazy-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/08\/meeting-jesus-quiet-crazy-advent\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting Jesus in the Quiet and Crazy of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I sat in front of my computer on Cyber Monday, browsing the websites of various retailers, irritability peeked its ugly head. Site after site, I wasn\u2019t finding what I was looking for at all. I was running out of ideas, and panic filled my heart.<\/p>\n

I closed the browser and walked away with a big, heavy sigh. It wasn\u2019t even December 1, and I was already feeling behind on all of my Christmas preparations. But why? Looking at the calendar, I had plenty of time for shopping, wrapping, and decorating. Why did I feel so frantic and rushed?<\/p>\n

Over the next few days, I contemplated my dreadful feelings surrounding the Christmas preparations that \u201cshould be\u201d filled with excitement and anticipation.<\/p>\n

Advent is a season of waiting, watching, and wondering. It is the season of hope and light, as we prepare for the greatest gift of all: Jesus.<\/p>\n

So, what was with my anxiety and panic?<\/p>\n

I like this festive time of year; I just don\u2019t like to rush it. For me, Advent is a slow pilgrimage to Bethlehem, but the world speeds around me on an express train to Santaland. No wonder I felt like the wind was knocked out of me!<\/p>\n

As I reflected more, I realized that I was separating my Advent desires for prayer, quiet, stillness, and rest from my\u00a0Advent activities of shopping, decorating, and baking. Perhaps the Lord doesn\u2019t want so much separation and fragmentation in Advent. Perhaps He invites me to have an integrated Advent that is prayerful, restful, delightful,\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0active. And by embracing it all\u2014not just the prayer or not just the busy\u2014a fluid Advent rhythm develops that moves from prayer and rest to checking things off my to-do list and back again, each positivity affecting the other, breathing life into my soul, my prayer, and yes, even my work.<\/p>\n

To read the rest, please visit me over at CatholicMom.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Quiet<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I sat in front of my computer on Cyber Monday, browsing the websites of various retailers, irritability peeked its ugly head. Site after site, I wasn\u2019t finding what I was looking for at all. I was running out of ideas, and panic filled my heart. I closed the browser and walked away with a big, heavy sigh. It wasn\u2019t even December 1, and I was already feeling behind on all of my Christmas preparations. But why? Looking at the…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[82],"tags":[25,26,8,7],"class_list":["post-3936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent","tag-advent","tag-christmas","tag-mary","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nMeeting Jesus in the Quiet and Crazy of Advent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Feeling a bit fragmented this Advent? 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