The Hope in Waiting … some reflections on Advent

Photo courtesy of 9comeback/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There’s something both exciting and tremendously nerve-wracking when we press the send button on the email that whisks the latest manuscript off to a publisher. Exciting? The project we’ve been working on has now reached a point of completion. In my case that project had consumed a lot of my mind space for the past three years.

Nerve-wracking? Will they like it? Enough to publish it? What if they don’t? What will I do then?

It’s a moment that is soon forgotten.

And then we wait.

And wait some more.

A few months later an email arrives outlining your manuscript is still in the game. Being reviewed by some others. They liked it sufficiently to pass onto others. Great.

And then we wait.

And wait some more.

As I shared with a writing friend recently: the Lord's got it in His big capable hands. Waiting helps us lean on Him more. And that's what I've tried to do. Keep writing, keep hoping, keep knowing He's looking after the situation irrespective of whether I receive a positive response or not. 

We are People who Wait

We authors wait a lot. It’s part of the fabric of being an author. I expect it’s one of the reasons self-publishing has become so popular: the author takes greater control over the end product and can manage the timeline.

We know all those feelings that come with waiting. The frustration, angst, discouragement, hopelessness. After waiting we (our work, that is) might be rejected. Again. And again. And again. We know the drill because it’s part of our lives. For some of us we’ve waited a long time and may continue to.

Advent is a time of waiting. The name Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival.” Beginning each year on the fourth Sunday before Christmas (the Sunday before last), Advent commemorates the birth of Jesus and also anticipates His return. As Ann Voskamp says we are “perpetual Advent people” waiting on Christ’s return.

The Branch Gives us Hope

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;


    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” (Isaiah 11:1-2)

Advent is all about hope. In who is coming.

We can believe in that hope. Because He did come 2,000 years ago on that Christmas morn, born in a feed trough, son to a teenage mom and her husband.

We can believe in that hope. Because He has come to us. He is in us and we are in Him.

We can believe in that hope. Because He has told us He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5). Even when our work gets rejected. Repeatedly.

He understands us. Really, truly! Because He has chosen each one of us.

"He tends His flock like a shepherd:

He gathers the lambs in His arms

and carries them close to His heart;

He gently leads those that have young." (Isaiah 40:11 NIV)

Choose to remember Him when the enemy throws the darts of rejection or doubt at you, when he tries to take away your joy in the One we celebrate.

Draw near to Jesus as He is the most compassionate Shepherd, gathering and carrying us, His lambs, in His arms. Such a wonderful image isn't it?

I hope you are able to spend some time in the next few weeks reflecting on the hope of Advent. On Jesus. Allow His Words to “dwell in your richly.”

Wishing all of my ICFW friends a blessed Advent season full of childlike hope and anticipation.

Grace and peace,

Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel of speculative fiction, Angelguard, is available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Angelguard won the 2013 Selah Award for Speculative Fiction. You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter

Reflections on Advent

Photo credit: Unity Church Albany, New York

Advent means “coming”. It is a season many Christians practice for the four weeks prior to Christmas. According to Wikipedia it is “a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. The season offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, and to be alert for His Second Coming.”

I observed Advent for the first time last year. Perhaps a better way of describing what I did was I studied it. I didn’t light a candle or do anything else symbolic. I read a few devotionals and spent more time each day just reflecting on Jesus.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience last year so am doing it again. Like last year I’m working through some devotionals to help stimulate my meditations and prayer time.

Once again I’m blown away by Jesus’ humble arrival. The Israelites were expecting a grand entrance by a king. But who turned up? A baby. Born in a barn.

“Our salvation comes from something small, tender, and vulnerable, something hardly noticeable. God, who is the Creator of the Universe, comes to us in smallness, weakness, and hiddenness.” (Henri Nouwen)

Margaret Feinberg describes it as “the beautiful paradox”. The world impresses upon us that to be prominent is best. Strength, beauty and size we deeply desire when Jesus does the exact opposite.

In the hustle and bustle of Christmas and the end of year, maybe it’s in the small and seemingly insignificant where we will find Him and our joy. The child’s smile, the unexpected conversation with an old friend, saying ‘hello’ to the person in the checkout aisle.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8 NIV)

How exciting is that! He wants to surprise us so we can experience His presence. This Christmas let’s give Jesus our full attention and don’t be surprised if your strongest sense of Him is found in the hidden, the small and weak.

Wishing all of the ICFW writing and reading community a Jesus-full Christmas. 

Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel, Angelguard, is now available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter

Joyful - and yet sad Christmases too.

And so tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Are all the presents wrapped, the shopping done, the food ready and the house prepared for any visitors?
Well, I am afraid that as I write this on the 22nd, I have to say, “not all, not all and not all at our house.” Our dear daughter has arrived from Melbourne to be with us and she has been helping to put up the rest of the decorations. And cooking still has to be attended to as well as greeting emails to those we can’t send greetings through the snail mail this year.
I have been enjoying posts on this blog about Christmas celebrations in different countries and cultures. And perhaps it isn’t just the differences in a country but the differences in traditions of each family. Family traditions, family heritage plays a large part in the way we celebrate.

Christmas celebrations here in Australia vary according to cultural backgrounds. Now being as multi-cultural as we are, many do not keep to the British traditions as my parents and their parents before them did.

Experiencing two Christmases in England highlighted how similar our traditions are. My husband still says the one thing he enjoyed the most in England was the year we joined carol singers from a church. We walked around their village in the way we had in the past only read about. We sang, we were invited into homes for refreshments. And it was cold - and dark. Here in Tasmania it is still light at least until 9pm and the lights are not appreciated as much here in our summer evenings as in England.

Our first Christmas in Northampton, England was certainly different but enjoyed very much despite our rather weird looking little tree. The next year we were thrilled to host our son, daughter-in-law and a friend from Australia and were certainly better organised! However, although it would have been fun to experience a "white Christmas" we did expereince a "white New Year." I'm sure many are hoping the snow this year will be gone by Christmas!

 

 

I really love Christmas. I really love the gifts of family traditions, a mere symbol of the family love I've been privileged to experience every year as long as I can remember. However, when I saw that my contribution to our blog was to be the 23rd of December I knew I had to share something of the darkest, most unhappy Christmas I have ever experienced.

It was that date in December my dear father died after several weeks in hospital. I was in my mid-teens with an older brother and a younger sister and brother. Dad's funeral was on Christmas Eve. This means that every Christmas is associated with losing our dear father for whom Christmas meant so much. Because we had all been many miles away from home to be near Dad in hospital, there had been no chance to buy gifts, do anything at all towards celebrating Christmas.

But that was the year I remember the wonderful gift of having understanding, loving friends who insisted we go out to their little farm and share their Christmas. May it be that I too would grasp any opportunity to try and ease the pain of others who suffere as we did that sad year. It is certainly a reminder every year that for far too many folk around us, Christmas may indeed be not a "Happy Christmas."

Despite saying all of this, I also have to add that as the years have unfolded and I look back over not only those few days but events in our family since, not once has God failed us. Not once have we missed out on being surrounded not only by love for each other as we celebrate the birth of His dear Son, but filled to over-flowing by the joy, the peace, the comfort that only a loving Heavenly Father can give his children - at Christmas and every day through the year.,

I trust you each do enjoy a VERY Happy Christmas this year free of sadness.

Mary Hawkins  http://www.mary-hawkins.com/

Season of Advent

   Alice Valdal posting here.  Today wraps up the anniversary month for the International Christian Fiction Writers blog.  We hope you've enjoyed all the book giveaways and have added a few titles to your Christmas wish list from the many reviews posted here.  It seems the schedule has worked out a day early for me.  I did a book give away at the end of October.
   In December, we've decided to give away short fiction -- our gift to our readers.  So here I am, a day early again,   You can find my story, "The Still Small Voice" at http://internationalchristianfictionwriters.blogspot.com/2010/10/short-fiction.html   Enjoy!

   In this season of Advent, I wish you all the hope of anticipation and the peace of preparation, the joy of friends and family and the Love of Christ.

To see other short fiction by Alice Valdal visit  http://www.alicevaldal.com/mainpage.html