Go ahead, on any given year, and ask me how my Advent is going.
Chances are, I’m going to respond, “I’m failing.”
This year was no different. In fact, if anything, this year was the worst since I’ve been Catholic and trying to actually observe Advent.
What was different about this year is that I had the grace to sit down and discern that hey! This failure thing might be good! Useful! Even helpful!
In fact, I learned at least three lessons:
- There are worse things than failure.
- There’s always next year.
- Christmas comes anyway.
Now, before you roll your eyes and click away, these are the simple lessons. There’s more to each of them.
I don’t like failure. I don’t like a lot of things in life, come to think of it. And maybe that’s part of the lesson for me.
You’ll find all of my reflection over at Integrated Catholic Life: What I Learned from Failing at Advent (Again).
I always think I fail Advent. What I actually fail is to live up to MY expectations of Advent. I’m sort of the Clark W. Griswold of Advent. And sometimes God has to come along and remind me that it’s not MY expectations that matter here.
Amen, Barb! That’s EXACTLY right for me too!