Posts in Advent
Grief in Advent: A five-minute reflection on Advent eve
Grief in Advent: A five-minute reflection on Advent eve

GRIEF

Oof. 2020 has been one for the books. I think one of the best gifts we can offer in response to this year is to keep telling our stories.

It's natural for humans to remember the details surrounding global-scale tragedies and to tell the stories over and over for the rest of their lives. It's the stuff of family histories as well as the plotlines for society's retelling of itself archived in books, documentaries, and movies.

Where were you when it happened?

Where were you when the president was shot, the bomb dropped, the towers fell?

So, friends, where were you when coronavirus hit? It's a bit tricky to piece together these details into a shareable story, right? Especially since we're like 9 months in and the tragedy is still unfolding. We're still in the part of the story where we're frantically trying to find out if our friends and family are safe and if they've heard the news yet.

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Advent, Wholeness & HealingTamara Hill Murphygrief, Patreon, writing
That Time (last Sunday) I Left Christmas Caroling in Tears
That Time (last Sunday) I Left Christmas Caroling in Tears

Ah, December.

How's that song go? "If we make it through December / Everything's gonna be alright, I know".

Any month of the year ask me how I feel about this month and I'll tell you it's one of my favorites. Advent is definitely my favorite liturgical season (as a proper Christian, I should probably say it's Eastertide. Eastertide doesn't come with crackling fires and cozy blankets, though.)

And then the real December arrives. The one everyone is actually living and my heart shrinks a couple of sizes. The crux of the tension lives on the pages of our calendar. It's not that we have so much to do anymore. In this season of our lives, we've got just the right amount of things to do to prepare for a festive Christmas.

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Five-Minute Stories, AdventTamara Hill MurphyChurch