December 24. Christmas Eve–the end of my Advent Journey. These are the lessons I have learned from the experience of journaling through Advent…

1. Even when you deliberately focus on Christ, the Christmas season is very difficult to navigate. So many demands and expectations compete for time and energy. And regular life with all of its needs just keeps going. This is something I hope to reflect on further. What can I change or cut next year that might make a difference?

2. Committing publicly to do something and then documenting it is a powerful motivator. I know I would not have followed through as consistently without that accountability. I need to transfer this to other areas where I lack self discipline.

3. Encouragement blesses me. I did this as a discipline for myself, but every time someone sent a word of encouragement, it showed me that God had plans I wasn’t even aware of and that He could use even my meager offerings for good.

4. Devotionals are tools not the end goal. I started three–one for me, one for our homeschool, and one for my elementary kids. We got through about Day 15 of the school ones. I did a little better in mine. This grieved me for awhile until I realized that what we did was a blessing and the rest can be for next year. The trees pictured in this post are two of our devotional trees. They are beautiful even with half of the ornaments missing.

5. God is ALWAYS faithful. I wish I could say that I prayed and studied and wrote in my journal first thing every morning. Sometimes I did, but often I did not. Even on nights that I could not keep my eyes open and waited way too late to sit down and spend time with God, He always met me, taught me, and gave me new revelations to share in my journal. My trust in Him has grown tremendously.

6. The only perfect Christmas is the one that occurred in a stable in Bethlehem.

Lord, You have blessed me so much this Advent season. You always had something to say to me; all I had to do was show up and ask. The longer I sat with you, the more You shared with me. Thank You for showing me over and over again how much I needed the gift of Jesus Christ. In His name, I pray. Amen.

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” (Jeremiah 33:3, ESV)