By Kristen Mudrack
Advent is a season of waiting. A season of expectant waiting. Though many church traditions have different meanings of the candles surrounding the advent wreath, the one I’ve chosen to focus on this year is hope, joy, love, and peace.
Love
I’ve heard people say that the first time you hold your newborn child in your hands, your heart overflows with love that you didn’t even know was possible. While I’m sure that many people feel that way, I’ve never experienced that, and so I don’t really know.
What I do know, though, is that love is complicated. Love is hard. Love is flawed.
The love that we experience on this earth is human love. It’s not perfect. It can be conditional. Conditional love isn’t really the love we were meant to experience. If someone loves you because you’ve done something for them, that love can be lost. If someone loves you because you didn’t tattle on them or get them in trouble, it’s probably not going to end well. Conditional love comes with a price.
But human love can also be beautiful. It doesn’t have to be based on performance or works. Sometimes you’re simply loved because you’re you. It’s not always perfect, but human love can be a glimpse into what God intended for us: unconditional love.
If we look at God’s love the same way we see human love, we’re selling it short. God’s love is so much more than that. No matter how many times we fail, no matter how many times we screw it up, no matter how difficult we’re being or how emotional we are – God still loves us. He loved us enough to send His one and only Son as a baby. Born to die.
This advent season, may you experience the love that Christ has for you. A love that drove Him to do for you what you could not do for yourself – a love that reconciled you to the Father and gave you life abundant and everlasting. May you strive to show that same love to those around you, to love unconditionally.