A Thrill of Hope: 5 Advent Reflections & Prayers for Weary ParentsSample

The Stories We Tell As we observe Advent and approach Christmas, our families are filled with stories we can’t help but share. As the family of Christ, we set aside time to tell one of the greatest stories of all time: the one where Love came down and God became flesh, entering the world in the form of a baby. It’s a riveting story: a cast of unexpected characters, a cosmic Incarnation, the culmination of a million smaller stories building until they burst into a night that changed history, its reverberations echoing into eternity. When I first started dating my husband, he was taken aback by how my family shares stories when we get together, how we laugh at the same memories as we gather around the table, passing the peace in the form of memories. We trot out big stories about life events and vacations past, and we share little stories, too, about seemingly mundane things that have been told and retold so many times that the telling itself has become funnier and more exciting than the original inspiration for the tale. As we raise our kids, we create our own stories, passing them down at the dinner table as we pass the mashed potatoes. When the terrifying and wonderful angels appeared above that field so long ago, telling the ordinary shepherds a story of splendor that seemed almost too good to be true, the shepherds were in awe. They had to see this Baby for themselves—they had to find their place in the story. And once they did, they couldn’t help but tell and retell what happened, sharing with everyone the glory of the story they had a front-row seat to. As for Mary, she rocked the fresh Baby, treasuring up all the tiny miracles that had culminated into the cosmic Grace she held in her arms. She held the greatest stories of all in her heart “and thought about them often” (Luke 2:19, NLT). We hold our stories in the heartbeats of our days. We think about them often. We share them repeatedly, telling them to our children. As we do, we live into who we are and find beauty in who we’re with. As you approach Christmas, take time to marvel at the stories of Jesus’ birth. Read Luke 2:1-20 aloud with your children, listen to an audio retelling of the Gospel account, attend a Nativity play. And when you find at least a sliver of a silent night, ask Jesus—Immanuel, God with us—how your story fits into God’s most extraordinary story. Reflection Questions: 1. Why do we tell the same story about Jesus’ birth every year? How can we learn new things from listening to the same story over and over again? 2. Why is the Christmas story one of the best stories of all? 3. What is your favorite family story that we retell? 4. What family story makes you laugh? 5. What story reminds you that you belong? Prayer: O God, You are the Author of life itself. You whisper life in all its glory into existence and invite us to dwell on the pages of the best story of all. In this season, we set aside the noise of the world to tell the truest tale—the one where Love came down and You became flesh, taking Your first breath among us and changing the course of history forever. We marvel at Christ incarnate and give thanks for the invitation to enter the story of Jesus, now and forevermore. Amen.