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3. What is Advent? - Tuesday Morning · Family Prayer Podcast

• 0:00
  Good morning, Grace Harbor. It's Dan.
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  Happy Tuesday!
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  I hope you're staying warm wherever you are because it is CHILLY
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  here.
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  But it's also a beautifully bright and clear morning,
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  and I have a hot cup of coffee,
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  so I'm all ready for our time together this morning.
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  I don't think I got the chance to tell you yesterday that we have the official
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  lighting of the town Christmas tree in the Village Green tomorrow.
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  This is one of my favorite events we have all year.
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  It's a big Christmas block party, and it feels like everyone in town comes out.
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  There's hot chocolate and snacks.
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  There's live music. There's games.
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  And of course, there's the chance to get your photo with Santa and Mrs.
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  Claus.
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  Practically every business and organization in town
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  is responsible for some part of the event.
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  Our church does a cookie booth, and by that
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  I mean we give away 500 cookies.
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  As you can imagine, this event takes a lot of work.
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  There's actually a Tree Lighting Committee
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  that starts meeting in the summer, just to be sure everything's organized.
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  And for our part, we start organizing the cookie baking a month ahead of time.
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  That's because, while we have folks who bake cookies for us every year.
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  There are always families who are either new to the church or want to help out
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  for the first time, and we don't want them to feel stressed out by any of it.
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  We want them to have fun,
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  both when they make the cookies and when they attend the event.
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  So we put intentional thought into our preparation
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  to be sure everyone gets the most out of it.
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  And hey, you know what?
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  That's actually not a bad way to think about the special season
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  we just started on Sunday called Advent.
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  It's when we spend four weeks getting our hearts ready for Christmas.
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  I mean, we could just wake up on Christmas,
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  open some presents, eat some cookies, and have a good time.
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  But Christmas is about so much more than that.
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  But don't worry, we have plenty of time to talk about
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  all of this as Christmas approaches.
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  For now, let's prepare for our day.
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  We're going to do that by practicing one of our core disciplines:
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  Setting intentions.
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  Take a minute and think about what you're doing today.
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  It might look the same as yesterday, like going to school.
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  But that's okay because ordinary days
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  are part of extraordinary lives.
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  And a big thing we're going to talk about over and over again
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  is the idea that how we do things
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  is as important as what we do.
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  And how you approach your day today
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  might be different than how you approached yesterday.
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  So let's do a little time travel using our imagination.
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  Whether you're a kid heading to school or an adult heading to a day
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  full of work or errands,
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  let's pretend the day is already over and we're getting ready for bed.
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  How do you want to be able to describe today?
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  Let's pick one word that captures how you want your day to feel.
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  Maybe it's “fun.”
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  You want to have a day that brings you joy.
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  Maybe it's “patient.”
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  You know,
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  today might have some frustrating parts and you want to handle them calmly.
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  Maybe it's “helpful.”
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  You want to help someone else have a brighter day. For me,
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  with 500 cookies to be ready to hand out by tomorrow,
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  I'm choosing “organized” because I want to stay focused on meeting that goal.
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  Now take a moment to think about the word you want to be able
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  to use to describe today.
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  If you're not sure, that's okay.
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  Your adult can help you think of one.
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  Once everyone has their word.
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  Go ahead and share it with each other.
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  If you need more time,
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  you can pause the podcast, and I'll be right here when you get back.
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  Now here's something important to remember:
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  We can't control everything about our day.
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  And despite our best intentions,
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  things may go wrong, or at least differently than we planned.
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  But the word we focus on helps us decide how we might respond.
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  So, for example, I'm planning on driving around to all of my volunteer bakers
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  this afternoon to pick up the cookies and bring them to the church.
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  But what happens if I get a flat tire and I can't make it to everyone's house?
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  I could focus on how I can't
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  do what I planned to do and get mad about it.
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  Or I can remember that my goal was to be organized,
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  and I just have to find a new way to be organized -
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  like calling some friends and asking them to help me pick up the cookies.
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  Okay,
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  let's close our time together this morning with a prayer.
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  If you want to, you can close your eyes and fold your hands.
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  Dear God, we thank you for all of the exciting things
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  that are coming today and tomorrow
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  and over the next couple of weeks as Christmas approaches.
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  Help us to balance both
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  getting ready for all that's coming and being fully present today.
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  Amen.
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  All right, friends.
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  Have a great Tuesday, and I'll talk to you tonight.