Today marks the beginning of Advent, a season celebrated by followers of Jesus that is all about waiting.

But not just any waiting.

Waiting with hope.

We hope in Jesus, the One who was to come.

The One who came.

The One who will come again.

Our waiting is grounded in the promises of a God who does what He says, and so we can say boldly with Paul that “this hope will not lead to disappointment.” (Romans 5:5)

Keep holding, trusting, and waiting.

The Light is breaking, and the darkness can do nothing about it.

Photo by infinyd photo on Unsplash

We’ve all heard that close only matters in horseshoes and hand grenades.

I guess there’s some truth to that, and yet it seems as if that statement takes away any of the positives from actually getting close.

It takes some effort and some skill to get close, unless we’re talking about my golf game, and then luck may play a role, too.

In truth, as we approach the final month of the year, I’m close to some goals:

I’m a month away from journaling every day for the second straight year.

I’m a month away from writing every day this year.

I’m a few thousand words short of writing 100,000 words this year.

I’m almost there, but not quite there, and I think that’s the point of the old saying about horseshoes. It’s good to be close, but not as good as being done, and the only way to finish something is by not settling for just getting close.

My guess is that you’re close to some things, too. Don’t stop close. Keep moving closer until your almost turns into an all done.

In our device-driven world, having a full charge is crucial. In fact, there’s nothing worse than waking up, grabbing your phone/laptop/device on the way out the door, and realizing that it either didn’t charge overnight or you didn’t plug it up to charge.

There have been times when I’ve actually connected a device to charge, and it drained the charge instead of adding charge! When that happens, it’s not hard to figure out that something isn’t quite right, and so the best thing to do is simply check the connection.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (‭‭John‬ ‭15:5‬ ‭NIV, emphasis mine)

Jesus knew how critical connections were, and He highlighted it for the disciples in the verse above. If you feel more drained than charged, it’s not a Jesus thing or necessarily even a you thing; it could simply be a connection thing.

So check your connection. Make sure that nothing small has slipped in and caused separation between you and the Father, and if you find it, remove it. If we’re the most fruitful connected to Jesus, then I want that connection to be as close as possible, don’t you?