It’s Thankful Thursday. Today, I am especially thankful for heat–heated seats in the car and heat in the house! It is just plain COLD! I know: it’s that time of year. I had to go to the doctor’s office for blood work before my “Medicare WellCare” appointment next week. Frost covered my car windshield.

This greeted my eyes when I set out this morning. I love those white, wispy clouds.

Yes, that is frost on the ground! It looks cold. When I came home with hot coffee in hand from a local coffee shop, the blue heron was on the pond. It flew before I could get the picture.

I am so thankful for these “God moments.”

Tomorrow is the beginning of the Advent season in the liturgical church year. I think it’s my favorite season of the church year. I’ve been reading some things about Advent in the last week. As we approach Christmas and the winter solstice, I’m thinking about how busy we make this season of the year. I read that in the pre-Christian eras, people would take the wagon wheels off their conveyances and bring them in the house to decorate with evergreens as a reminder that this is a season to slow down and stay put, as it were. The greens remind us that spring will come.

My favorite verse for this time of year is Isaiah. 9:2. “Those who walk in darkness have been a great light; on those living in the space of deepest darkness, a great light has dawned.” When I was growing up in the Mt. Hermon Lutheran Church, we always attended Christmas candlelight services. The liturgy was the same every year, and this verse was part of that liturgy. At some point in the service, the children would line up on the altar steps to sing “Away in a Manger” under the direction of Ms. Imogene Smith. This service is the epitome of the Advent season for me. Now, we do the candlelight service on Christmas Eve. Although it is meaningful, there was something about having the service before Christmas that made me anticipate the birth of Christ more.

One of my favorite Advent carols is “O Come, O Come, Emanuel.” I think the version by Mannheim Steamroller is one of the best. What a lovely invitation to the Advent season. Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel.