{"id":4403,"date":"2018-01-14T11:48:41","date_gmt":"2018-01-14T17:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/?p=4403"},"modified":"2018-01-14T11:48:41","modified_gmt":"2018-01-14T17:48:41","slug":"advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Advent Lessons I Learned and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two and a half weeks ago, my family and I gathered around our Christmas tree. Excitement and joy mingled with the festive scents of hot coffee, cinnamon rolls, and pine needles. The kids piled their gifts next to them and eagerly wondered what was inside each wrapped box.<\/p>\n

As I sipped my coffee and breathed in Christmas goodness, I felt grateful. For the first time in forever, I felt like Christmas had arrived and I had arrived with it. I was ready to welcome the Newborn King into my heart and home. I didn\u2019t feel like I needed a few more days to prepare or like I had rushed to finish up last-minute details \u2014 even with this being the shortest Advent possible.<\/p>\n

What made this Advent different from all the others? Why did Advent seem to \u201cwork\u201d for me this year, when in the past, it seemed hectic and harried?<\/p>\n

I have always desired a peaceful, prayerful Advent. Who doesn\u2019t? But the busyness of things to do often hijacked my Advent peace. As a mom of six, I primarily focused on my family\u2019s Christmas preparations, and by the time I tried to enter into my personal Advent experience, I was just too exhausted. By Christmas Day, I felt like I arrived in Bethlehem out of breath and frazzled. I felt like I had \u201cfailed\u201d miserably, disappointing Jesus and myself.<\/p>\n

Lessons Learned<\/h2>\n

So, this Advent, I changed things up! I made the decision not to repeat the past. And I did four specific things to keep priorities in order and make Advent what it is truly meant to be: a time of waiting and watching for the Messiah to come.<\/p>\n

I committed to a weekly Holy Hour<\/strong>\u00a0as a way of setting a prayerful tone for Advent. I imagined myself like the shepherds and wise men, coming to adore the Baby Jesus. I took time to reflect on scriptural messages of waiting and watching that I heard at Mass. And I practiced being still and knowing I was waiting and watching in Jesus\u2019 presence, before the Blessed Sacrament.<\/p>\n

2) To keep me focused,\u00a0I prayed my way through two Advent journals:<\/strong>\u00a0Rooted in Hope<\/em><\/a> by\u00a0Take Up and Read<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0In the Beginning<\/em>\u00a0by\u00a0Blessed Is She<\/a>. They prompted me to open my Bible and pray with the Scriptures. They encouraged me to apply God\u2019s Word to my daily life.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the planning pages in\u00a0Rooted in Hope<\/em><\/a>, I made lists \u2026 and followed them.<\/strong>I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d like this aspect of the journal; I assumed I\u2019d just skip over it. But I gave these pages a try and actually loved them! I used these pages to make my to-do lists and map out my weeks. I often did my planning at the end of my prayer time, and I believe that by inviting the Lord into my work, He gave me the grace to prioritize and stick to my tasks.<\/p>\n

4) I logged out of social media.<\/strong>\u00a0How much time I spend online is always something that nags at me. In many ways, I hate it, and in other ways, it feels like a necessity. Advent seemed like the perfect time to take a break, and I think it helped me stay focused on my prayer and my priorities.<\/p>\n

As Advent began, the image of an empty manger kept coming to mind. Each time I prayed, I saw the manger. But with each week that passed, the image changed, and I slowly started to see it filling up with hay. By the time Christmas arrived, the manger was full of fresh, soft hay, and I realized that it represented my prepared heart. I was ready to welcome Baby Jesus. I had made room for Him to rest His sweet head.<\/p>\n

Showing Order<\/h2>\n

Now that the new year has begun, how can I carry the prayerful spirit of Advent into the season of Ordinary Time?\u00a0To read more, please click over to CatholicMom.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Two and a half weeks ago, my family and I gathered around our Christmas tree. Excitement and joy mingled with the festive scents of hot coffee, cinnamon rolls, and pine needles. The kids piled their gifts next to them and eagerly wondered what was inside each wrapped box. As I sipped my coffee and breathed in Christmas goodness, I felt grateful. For the first time in forever, I felt like Christmas had arrived and I had arrived with it. I…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4404,"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":false,"_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":[59,60],"tags":[25,26,83,27,7],"class_list":["post-4403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-writing","tag-advent","tag-christmas","tag-liturgical-year","tag-prayer","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nAdvent Lessons I Learned and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sarah Damm made intentional life changes this Advent. Here she shares her plans to carry those through into Ordinary Time. What are your plans?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advent Lessons I Learned and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sarah Damm made intentional life changes this Advent. Here she shares her plans to carry those through into Ordinary Time. What are your plans?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sarah Damm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-14T17:48:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/CM_January.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sarahcdamm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sarahcdamm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\"},\"headline\":\"Advent Lessons I Learned and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-14T17:48:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-14T17:48:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/\"},\"wordCount\":683,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/CM_January.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Advent\",\"Christmas\",\"liturgical year\",\"prayer\",\"writing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"faith\",\"writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/\",\"name\":\"Advent Lessons I Learned and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/CM_January.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-14T17:48:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-14T17:48:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"Sarah Damm made intentional life changes this Advent. Here she shares her plans to carry those through into Ordinary Time. What are your plans?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/CM_January.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/CM_January.png\",\"width\":720,\"height\":340,\"caption\":\"Lessons I Learned This Advent and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life | sarahdamm.com\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Advent Lessons I Learned and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sarah Damm\",\"description\":\"Catholic. Wife. Mother. Writer.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a\",\"name\":\"Sarah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg\",\"width\":1152,\"height\":1152,\"caption\":\"Sarah\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Advent Lessons I Learned and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life","description":"Sarah Damm made intentional life changes this Advent. Here she shares her plans to carry those through into Ordinary Time. What are your plans?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Advent Lessons I Learned and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life","og_description":"Sarah Damm made intentional life changes this Advent. Here she shares her plans to carry those through into Ordinary Time. What are your plans?","og_url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/","og_site_name":"Sarah Damm","article_published_time":"2018-01-14T17:48:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":340,"url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/CM_January.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sarah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sarahcdamm","twitter_site":"@sarahcdamm","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sarah","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/"},"author":{"name":"Sarah","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a"},"headline":"Advent Lessons I Learned and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life","datePublished":"2018-01-14T17:48:41+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-14T17:48:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/"},"wordCount":683,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/CM_January.png","keywords":["Advent","Christmas","liturgical year","prayer","writing"],"articleSection":["faith","writing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/","url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/","name":"Advent Lessons I Learned and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/CM_January.png","datePublished":"2018-01-14T17:48:41+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-14T17:48:41+00:00","description":"Sarah Damm made intentional life changes this Advent. Here she shares her plans to carry those through into Ordinary Time. What are your plans?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/CM_January.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/CM_January.png","width":720,"height":340,"caption":"Lessons I Learned This Advent and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life | sarahdamm.com"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/14\/advent-lessons-learned-apply-ordinary-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Advent Lessons I Learned and How I Can Apply Them to My Ordinary Life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/","name":"Sarah Damm","description":"Catholic. Wife. Mother. Writer.","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b12a17862a6b5fc5001463a8f6b78c0a","name":"Sarah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/94627392_1841253572690243_2845496901107712000_o.jpg","width":1152,"height":1152,"caption":"Sarah"},"logo":{"@id":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/sarahdamm.com"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/CM_January.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p86xr0-191","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4403"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4419,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4403\/revisions\/4419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sarahdamm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}