Advent Devotional - December 22

For me, "incarnation" required some pondering. I love the Advent and Christmas seasons; I always have and I think I always will.  And Advent is all about waiting and preparing.  As soon as I had children, I realized it was far too easy for me to get caught up in preparation, with almost no thought given to what or for Whom I was preparing. So now,  I make the effort to see Him in the constant parade of moments that make up a day. 

I see Him in dozens of cookies baked and given away; in the determined expression of a seven-year-old struggling to play "Away in a Manger"; in the stories told by my Nativity sets as I place them around our home. I hear His voice through my Mom as we plan a Christmas dinner menu; in the excited-about-Santa voices of children I love; in the beauty my fingers create as I play the centuries old music of our faith. 

These things, and the peace and joy they bring, are the Incarnate God.

Julie Ludington