Advent may be my favorite time of year. Yet every December I find myself not moved by Advent, but moved by the ordinarily sacred. The opportunity to celebrate the extra ordinarily sacred reminds me of the Thin Places that I daily encounter. The spaces where I feel the mess of the already and the not yet. The intersections of the imperfect realities of my family, friends and efforts with the all victorious graces of the King. The beautiful mess.

I find myself pulled into the depth of the already and the not yet. But, even so, I too often choose into this invitation by trying to achieve the Not Yet; rejecting my present realities out of a desire for the fullness of the Kingdom; seeking the future rather than engaging in the present.

I believe that I was created an eternal being that is blessed to live within the boundaries of time; to live in the moment, rather I embrace it or not. The ambitions of the dreamer, the backwards gazing of the reflector all have their place. Yet, the power to live engaged and fulfilled and in toon with the Thin Places and the groanings of the Spirit require that we give the majority of our energy to our current window of time. The struggle, for me, is in the regrets, in the plans, and in the striving to bring an unattainable vision of tomorrow into today. The lie is that if I release myself to the rhythms of the now, then I will miss out on the opportunity to learn from the past or to call down from Heaven the possibilities that I see and for which I want to work.

The truth, is that I cannot live outside of the constraints of time, opportunity and resource. That with time I can increase opportunity and resource, but that I am most influential, most at peace, and most in the mysterious rhythm of creation when I fix my gaze on the moment in which I am. It’s these rare moments that I count as gifts, blessings. These raw moments in which I intwine my existance, my dreams, my efforts and my past experiences with the Thin Places that the Creator has beautifully set around me, now.

To me, Advent is an opportunity to celebrate the extravegance of the Kingdom of God, but even more, Advent is a sweet opportunity to engage in the mess around me and to reflect how similar is my mess to the mess in which the Savior was born.