Advent Day 13

When I think of Advent, I think of a big wooden door -- like maybe one found on a cathedral, or a monastery, or maybe just an old ancient inn. I imagine Jesus on the other side of it ... knocking. My heart beats faster. I imagine a key turning the lock ... I hear the lock release ... then I see the knob beginning to turn, and I know that it is the hand of my Lord turning it from the other side. I realize I'm about to come face to face with Him.

Can you feel the excitement ... sense the anticipation? That's what Advent is all about! Here is today's advent readings:

Luke 2:20
The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

Isaiah 53:3-4
He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!