A New Memory

Here we are again in the season of  Advent.  A time of waiting and hoping and celebrating and even a bit of mourning. With each season we remember the past, the times spent with family no longer with us, of dishes that no one will ever make like she did, of better times even.  In this remembering we mourn what we have lost and we hope, not in some assured, grin-soaked way, but in a maybe, a wish-upon-a-star way, that we just might create memories that will be worth missing one day.  This Thanksgiving, I missed my mom, I missed my brother, I missed grandma and her stuffing (its good enough to make a man cry), but we forged ahead as a new family, not-so-familiar faces crowded around a not-so-familiar table hoping that we were creating a new memory. 

In many ways the season of Advent is like this.  We remember the stories of our youth about wise men, a horrible king, angels, stars, a manger; and if you are like me, you mourn.  These things fail to ignite my imagination the way they once did, I guess thats the trouble with growing up.  But I see in my daughter a bit of hope.  She is not quite old enough to understand the stories, but I have never seen a face so joyous as when she sees a horse or a star or Christmas lights.  Her's is a scary face in that it is completely unfiltered by the years that have jaded us.  It is a scary face because I want to experience that joy too and fear I never will.  But I hope.  I cannot give up, I must hope to make new memories for her and hopefully myself as well.  And here is what makes Advent so special for me, we do not simply remember and mourn, but we also hope.  We hope when all the world around us tells us not to.  We hope even in the face of suffering.  It is a foolish thing to do, and yet we become fools because what choice do we really have.  Jesus is coming again and He has made us some promises, that He will give us His joy and nothing will ever take it from us again.  He is creating new memories for us, greater memories that will shine so bright that the mourning will never come again.  

It may seem foolish to hope for such things, but maybe, just maybe, God will fix this world and nothing will ever be the same again.  I sure hope so.