The Long Day

She bounced down the hallway to take a shower after dinner following her usual routine, and pausing to let her Dad go first, an exercise in politeness she’d been learning at school, she said resolutely and with a slight sigh and a giggle, “I’m sorry I had a long day.” Eric and I looked at each other and burst into laughter. Abbey’s brand of humor slays me. It’s more than just the delivery that gets me. It’s the fundamental truth behind what she’s saying and the irony of it all that often leads to an all-out belly laugh.

She had been thinking only of the day she’d just had of course, but we couldn’t help but think of the very long season we’ve all been having. So, to us it felt like the understatement of the century. A sarcastic quip about the state we all find ourselves in currently. We wish it was just one long day or even one long month, but instead this season of pandemic has stretched on for months and months with no end in sight. During this time our family has delt with many hard losses, changes, and difficulties in our life all while under the shadow of a pandemic. At this point just one long day would be a welcome occurrence. 

The Hard Road

Hard seasons of life are a reality. We don’t have to live long to find out that not everything in life is going to go our way or end up the way we’d planned. And for those of us raising a child with special needs we did not need a pandemic to remind us of this fact. Most of us have already been living in a long hard season of life. But the good news is that Jesus came to give us life and to give us hope in the midst of the hard. When it seems like so much has gone wrong in life and we find ourselves wanting to cry out loud ,“It’s not supposed to be this way”, God is there and He has given us His trustworthy promises to hold on to in the middle of whatever it is we’re going through. 

The bible tells us that He understands in every way what it is like to go through hard times, and that He has promised He will be there with us in the midst as we travel down that hard road (Isaiah 53:3, Psalms 46:1). He has also reassured us that these hardships are being used for good in our lives, and that they are not meaningless (Romans 5:3-4, James 1:2-4). And lastly, He has given us a roadmap to show us how to travel down the long hard roads of life. This roadmap begins with remembering and ends with telling. In Psalms 77:11 He asks us to remember His goodness and His love for us, because He knows that when hard times come, we can end up sidetracked, waylaid, or derailed and doubting these truths. Then He follows this up with instructions to tell of His goodness and love in order that other fellow travelers can know the hope that is found in Him as well. 

The Advent Season

Remember and tell. This is what the Advent season is all about. You may or may not be familiar with the Advent season and the Advent wreath of Christmas. The Advent wreath originated in Germany in the 16^thcentury. The circle shape of the wreath is a reminder of God’s infinite love for us. The evergreen decorating the wreath represents the eternal life we have in Christ Jesus our savior. And the four candles which are lit on each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas symbolize: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. In some cases, there is also a fifth candle in the center of the Advent wreath which is lit on Christmas eve or Christmas day to symbolize the birth of the baby Jesus, the light of the world. A birth which also came after many long days of journeying down a hard road.

Advent is a sweet time to quiet our hearts and minds and to remember all that the Lord has done. It is also a way of telling a world full of hurting people all around us about the good news of God’s love and His salvation plan for us. In the Bible there are so many stories of those who came before us who set up their own stones, pillars, and altars of remembrance, like the Advent wreath, which told of what the Lord had done. Jacob did this after he wrestled with the Lord and received the promise of God’s plan for his family, and Joshua did this after the Israelites had crossed over the Jordan river into the promised land. 

This choosing to remember and tell about God’s goodness and love is so incredibly powerful. Again, it is a beautiful roadmap which the Lord has laid out for us to show us how to navigate through the hard times of life. When we remember back to His goodness and love toward us in the past; we remember how He holds us in His hands and how we can trust Him with our plans (Jeremiah 29:11). And when we then turn and tell of His goodness and love we point others to this same reassurance and hope that can only be found in Christ Jesus, so that they too can continue down whatever hard road they may find themselves on, and endure whatever long day they may be experiencing. So, during this season of long days let us remember and tell of God’s goodness and love. Let us live out the Advent.