Longing for Advent

The weather snapped this week. It finally feels like fall, or maybe even winter. The trees in my yard have turned red, some brown, and have begun to fall—creating what seems to be another task on my weekend chore list. However, this might be my favorite season of the year. I look forward to fall throughout the rest of the year. During the blistering summer months, I long for cooler temperatures. During the wretched freezing months, I long for warmer days. But days, like today, are perfect. 

The fall season, brings a lot of longing. I long to see my family during the holidays. I long for the incredible food, and I long for successful Baylor football games. I long for the same stories to be shared year after year, now seemingly since my birth. I love the smell of the crisp air mixed with someone’s fire pit burning in the distance. Some of my favorite memories are in this season—and it’s those memories that have created this longing of their return. 

There’s a term for this longing, and it’s quite fitting for this season. Advent is the longing for the arrival of notable person, event, or thing. It is a season leading up to something. Pre-season football precedes the regular football season; cooler weather precedes my favorite memories; engagement precedes the wedding. All of these could be described as an advent season.

As Christians, we long for the birth of our Savior. It is the memory of this event that continues to push us to a season of Advent. On the Christian calendar, Advent encompasses the four weeks leading to Christmas. This is a reflective few weeks as we tune our hearts to longing for the arrival of our Savior. What an exciting time! 

Bible Studies for Life has created a study on this for the Advent season. As we long for our Savior, we will study Irrefutable: Prophecies that Point Us to Jesus. This study points to many Old Testament prophecies in Isaiah and Micah fulfilled in the Gospels. As a gift to you, we would love to give you one lesson from this study: “The Savior that Came to Us” from Luke 2. I pray that this season of Advent fosters your adoration of our Savior.