Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Teresa of Avila

As a mindfulness practice today, watch your own hands. Are they blessing the world? How are you using them?

“When I am dangerously tired, I can be very, very busy and look very, very important, but be unable to hear the quiet, sure voice of the One who calls me His beloved. When that happens, I lose touch with that place in the center of my being where I know who I am in God. When that happens, I am at the mercy of all manner of external forces, tossed and urned by others’ expectations and my own compulsions.”

Ruth Haley Barton

Being very, very busy is often the way of American life in the first two weeks of December. Last night, I ran into a friend who had events scheduled every night for the first 20 days of December. That’s a lot.

Ruth Haley Barton has an excellent podcast called Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. This season she offers a series on Advent, with Scripture, sound advice and exercises to help us achieve a true state of waiting for Jesus.

Her first podcast in the series suggests that we think about places where we are waiting for Jesus in the darkness, and we make an effort to sit and wait for Him. Scroll down through the link to find the First Sunday of Advent episode.

It’s the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a beautiful season that’s becoming a best-kept secret. Don’t like the hassle and hurry of December? Celebrate Advent instead.

On the first Sunday of Advent, I do these things:

• Set up our Advent wreath, pray over it, and light the first candle during morning prayer.
• Put up the barn for our creche. And nothing else. No animals, people or angels. They arrive in the barn in an order during the Sundays of Advent and Christmas Eve.
• Get out my Christmas china, which I’ve collected over decades. (I also get out my Christmas socks.)
• Put up the Advent calendar, which my grown son still likes to use when he is at the house.
• Switch to Advent and Christmas music. You can look at Spotify for Advent playlists to some things that are not “Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel.” (Although that is still my favorite.)

Enjoy the presence of the Lord in your house on this holy day.

Christmastime is here.  Well, not really.  It’s actually about to be Advent, the four-week preparation for Christmas that is its own beautiful, peaceful season.

Preparing to celebrate Advent can be as simple as you wish.  Many people have an Advent wreath that you can either buy or make from a log or evergreen branches.  You need candles.  Traditionally it has four candles: three purple and one pink.  Lately the Advent candle packs have been adding a white candle to light on Christmas as well.  You can order these on Amazon or get them at many church bookstores.

When the kids were little, we used to pick out worthy Christians … saints, if you will … to study during the season on Advent Eve.

We also have an Advent countdown calendar that created the manger scene when finished.  These calendars are everywhere, and they are enjoyable.  Most of these calendars start with Dec. 1, which is actually workable this year.

Another cool tradition is wrapping up 25 stories … little Golden Christmas books towards the end … in newspaper or magazine pages.  The kids can open one a day to read.

You actually can do as much or as little as you wish on Advent.  Just keep it slow and beautiful to enjoy the Lord’s presence before the day you open presents.

Skipping Black Friday is a custom for me.  I prefer to use the day to think about upcoming Advent and to take the Christmas Pledge.

I wrote this down decades ago, and I can’t find the source online.  It has served me well.

The Christmas Pledge

1. To remember those people who truly need my gifts.
2. To express my love for family and friends in more direct ways that presents.
3. To rededicate myself to the spiritual growth of my family.
4. To examine my holiday activities in light of the true spirit of Christmas.
5. To initiate one act of peacemaking within my circle of family and friends.

Amen to that.