Starting a New Liturgical Year: Advent 2016 Begins

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Happy 1st Sunday of Advent to everyone.

As I type this up, I feel rather disconnected to the whole idea of Advent this year. There is so much of my life in transition and I am not in my own house at the moment. It’s hard to get centered when that’s all going on!

The boys and I went to the parish (St. Margaret Mary) which I attended through most of my youth. I went to the school for a little of 6th grade and all of 7th and 8th grade. I was confirmed there. And, I was married there 21 years ago.

The building (or should I say complex!) has changed over the years. But, there’s still a lot of history for me. Even if I didn’t recognize anyone at Mass. And, their new associate pastor gave an amazing homily on how we should live our lives in constant preparation for the 2nd coming of Christ.

Being at my parents for a long visit and having changes in our own living situation (split households for a while) has me feeling off kilter. Seeing my mom hospitalized for pneumonia which just won’t improve also brings pause to my internal debates and couples with other things in my life leading me to yet again re-prioritize.

I considered not doing the 40 Days of Seeking Him link up this year. After all, I am stretched thin most days. And, by the end of each season it seems like fewer and fewer people have participated.

However, I felt that this is something I need to do. I need to have accountability of sorts for myself. I’ve let life get in the way of things that are important, especially my faith and my health.

So, whether just a handful of people read my posts and just a few other bloggers decide to link up, I am in for this season. I hope some will join me, though, as it is always more fun walking through life with others.

One thing I plan to do is a short devotional every day for myself. The Knights of Columbus at the parish here were distributing the (affiliate link) Little Blue Book for Advent. I grabbed one to use and know that even the few minutes it takes will help me on the journey.

 

Once we are home again, the Advent wreath will come out and be used.

My friend Trish over at A House Upon the Rock is (hopefully) joining me in co-hosting this 40 day meme.   We will not be doing a daily link-up, but rather a weekly one.  If you blog more than once a week, please add each link to the link-up, we’d love to find you and read what you are doing and learning as you seek Him.

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Please consider joining us as we Seek Him for the next 40 days.   We will celebrate from the first day of Advent through Epiphany on Jan. 6th.

When joining us on the 40 Days of Seeking Him meme, please link directly to your post.  Every week we will link up and share what we are doing, learning or how we celebrate the birth of our Lord. You are more than welcome to link up to more than one post each week if you’ve written multiple posts on the topic of Advent and growing closer to Christ.

If you would, please help us find each other by using the photo button in your posts. Grab the code on this page here. Also, we’ll be using the hashtag #40DaysofSeekingHim on social media!

We have a Pinterest board we will be adding participants posts to from the weekly link ups. If you want to follow it you can find it here.  We will also be highlighting a favorite post from the previous week as well as the most visited post.

We’d love to have you join our Facebook Group/Page. We will be posting there and chatting through the season as well.

Thank you for joining us.  I look forward to reading your posts (as many as I possibly can) as we share what we are doing to prepare our hearts for the most wonderful gift God gave us ~ Jesus Christ.

What are your plans for this Advent Season?