Prepare

The word for this first week in Advent is Prepare.

Yesterday afternoon I made my way into our attic to find our box of Christmas lights. What I was looking for were the candles we put in each of upstairs windows. A part of my Advent tradition is to have them in place and lit beginning with the first Sunday in Advent, and on each evening through Epiphany. Other decorations – tree, angels, Christmas stockings – will follow and will find their assigned place in our home, but the candles always come first.
A simple light in our windows.
But for me they are also reminder and hope and witness.
A light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.