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Advent Journaling Week 4: Peace

If ever there was a week that could benefit from a focus on peace, it’s this week.  The run-up to Christmas can be quite stressful in most households-holiday preparations are at a frenzied pace, last minute shopping, wrapping, baking, and cleaning have tight deadlines, company is coming and going, and it’s easy to lose sight of the reason we are celebrating at all.  Take a few moments (for your sanity’s sake!) and make time for your journal each day this week.  If you’re lighting candles in an Advent Wreath, today you probably lit the last candle in the circle.  Was it pink or purple? This is the one we light on the Sunday before Christmas.  This year, let’s focus on peace as we reflect in the coming days.

A special note: Since I don’t know what day Christmas will be falling on when you are reading this, I’ve included a few extra mediation/writing prompts for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Feel free to substitute them onto the actual days of the holiday if you wish!

Fourth Sunday in Advent: Read Micah 5:2-5a.  This familiar Scripture heralds the coming of Christ. Why do you call Christ “the Prince of Peace”? How does your faith bring peace to your heart and to your life?

Monday: Read Psalm 80:1-7.  Pay special attention to the last verse in the reading.  Do you feel that God has restored you and makes His face shine upon you? Why or why not?

Tuesday: Read Hebrews 10:5-10.  What will you do in the coming days to present yourself as a ‘sacrifice pleasing to God’?

Wednesday: Read Isaiah 9:6-7. What do you need to do to bring more of Christ’s peace into your life this week?

Thursday: Read John 14:27. Who is the most peaceful person you know? What is his or her secret? Can you find the same peace? How?

Friday: Read Psalm 34:11-14.  The Bible is full of advice about how to achieve the kind of peace promised from a deep relationship with the Lord.  If you were writing advice to a loved one about how to achieve this kind of life-changing peace, what would you say?

Saturday: Read Colossians 3:15-17. What is the relationship between thankfulness and peace? What does this suggest to you?

Advent Journaling Week 4- Peace (1)

Christmas Eve: Read Luke 1: 68-75.  What does God’s Advent into our world mean to you personally? How has this event, which happened so long ago, come alive again for you each year?

Christmas Day: Read Luke 2:1-20. Describe the scenes from this story in your best story-telling style. Engage all the senses, and make the story come alive.

Related:

Advent Journaling Week 1: Hope

Advent Journaling Week 2: Love

Advent Journaling Week 3: Joy

Christmas Journaling

Advent Journaling Week 3: Joy

Christmas is fast approaching! I hope that you are taking time each celebration-19545_1920and every day to focus your heart and mind on the Reason for the Season. If you do, I’m sure you will find it: Joy. That is the focus for this third week of Advent. The Christmas carols sing of it, the holiday cards mention it, and for too many of us, it completely eludes our lives.  It doesn’t have to! The secret is to make time for Christ, each and every day. One way to do that is to journal.  Journaling is a great pathway to greater awareness and a deepening relationship with Christ.  Here are some readings and prompts to ponder during the coming week.

Sunday:

If you are lighting candles on an Advent wreath this year, it’s time to light the third blue candle.  The candle might also be pink or rose colored.  This candle can symbolize Joy, the joy that is ours for the taking when we realize the depth and breadth of God’s love for us. Read Zephaniah 3:14-20.  What songs of joy are in your heart this holiday season? You can talk about the songs that truly speak to you, or you can make up a new hymn.

Monday:

Read Isaiah 12:2-6.  How can you “let this be known to all the world” this week?  What aspects of your life sing about your joy in Christ to everyone around you?  Or, what can you do differently that will sing about your joy so others can see?

Tuesday:

 Read Philippians 4:4-7.  Do you have the “peace of God, which transcends all understanding”? If not, why not?  If so, how does that impact your life?  How do you know?

Wednesday: 

Read Ephesians 2:12-22. Which outcome of Christ’s love and sacrifice brings the most joy to your heart right now?  Why?

Thursday: 

Read Luke 1: 39-56. This is the story of Mary’s visit to her kinswoman, Elizabeth. What sort of song, poem, or prose can you write that expresses your joy about the coming of Christ?

Friday:

Read Isaiah 9:6-7. In these verses, Isaiah gives several names for the Lord. Which name would you choose today and why? You can pick one from these verses, one from another passage you know, or one you would use from your own experiences.

Saturday:

Read Luke 3:7-18.  John exhorts the crowd to actions that are befitting of redeemed people. What changes will you make to your life and actions this coming week to show that you are a redeemed person?