Advent Rant???

So I have been spending some time reflecting on Advent, and how often times it is over looked in favor of Christmas. For years I have fought this with the best of my sarcastic and passive aggressive skills. Maybe I just read to many articles that are talking about "The real Christmas" and the "Secular Christmas," but I think I now have a new approach to the season.

Distractions. They come in many forms. Some are welcomed and some are not. Others are looked for, and some seem to find us when we are not expecting them. They may come in different shapes and size but they all in some way prevent us from what we were doing.

Tests. They also come in many forms. Some are standardized, some our multiple choice, they can be mind games, or true or false questions. A test can measure many different things. Knowledge is often tested, so it loyalty, purity, devotion, and all matters of virtue are tested often.

Distractions can be tests. Weather we pass or fail the test can be determined based on how we respond to distraction.

(Fair warning, I am about to go a little "crazy" here.) The devil has filled this world with distractions, and there is no greater time that he rejoices in all he has done that at Christmas. He has changed the humble beginnings of our Lord into a greedy, self serving, over stimulated mess. Or has he?

It is easy to look and say that he has, but has he taken over Christmas in your heart? Is Christmas for you about buying the best gift or having the best party for your friends at work? I know that for me it is not. It is about my family. Flying home from what ever state I am in and visiting friends, and spending time with relatives. It is about the joy of welcoming Christ into my heart once again, because I am such a mess that over the course of a year I lose Him. It is about charity and justice. This Christ child came to us in a feed box in a barn. Not in a fancy cradle on his parents Hummer. It is about the fulfillment of the Advent promise.

So it is in the anticipation of this promise that I have joy in my heart this Advent. I say bring on all the distractions. They will only make my resolve to remember why I celebrate Christmas stronger. On Christmas day when the Christ child arrives in my heart, the pain felt by the devil in his failure do distract me will be that much greater.

The more he fights to distract me, the closer I will become to God. This is my prayer for Advent, and it is the same prayer I will offer of you.

Keep up the fight, and Happy Advent