Tag: Advent

Pine trees with the caption in white letters November 2022: '16 Rules for Living With Less' + Anti-Social Advent

November 2022: ’16 Rules for Living With Less’ + Anti-Social Advent

Posted on by Kelvey Vander Hart in L I F E

What were you grateful for this Thanksgiving? Here’s the monthly recap: 

Best Book I Read This Month 

My recommendation this month is a little different. I was recently introduced to the work of The Minimalists (their Patreon content is definitely worth the small cost), and they offer a free ebook that is a great short read. You can find 16 Rules for Living With Less for free here. 

Best Article I Read This Month

What time is it? Time for some shameless self-promotion! Really, I want to share this article with you all not because I wrote it but because I want people to have the information it contains. “A Consumer’s Quick Guide to Environmental Certifications” is available to read here. 

Tip + Trick of the Month

This one is short and snappy from Becoming Minimalist’s Joshua Becker: “The less you own, the easier organizing becomes.” 

Quote of the Month

“It only takes five minutes to break the cycle. Five minutes of exercise and you are back on the path. Five minutes of writing and the manuscript is moving forward again. Five minutes of conversation and the relationship is restored. It doesn’t take much to feel good again.” 

-James Clear, author of Atomic Habits 

Kelvey’s Thought for the Month

This Advent season, want to get anti-social with me? 

I’m not talking about ignoring your friends and family. (Although, depending on the person and the calendar, it might be worth taking time to do that too.) 

I’m talking about getting off social media. 

Advent is the second period of time when I typically take an extended social media break (with the first being Lent). Both of these seasons are times that encourage us to turn toward Christ. But Advent does this by prompting us to slow down, to turn off the noise, to wait. 

Now, I have to add some nuance here and tell you that I’ll still be on social media for work during the weekdays. Social media management is a huge part of my job, and maybe it is part of your job too. I think that’s a little different. 

Outside of work? I can add to the limits I already put on my social media by completely turning it off. I can step away from the frenzied pace, comparison game, and anger perpetuated on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

I can slow down. I can turn off the noise. I can wait. 

And maybe you will too. If you want to dial down the volume on the world this Advent season so that you can focus more on Christ our King, this may be a practice for you. 

And I’d love to hear if it is. Feel free to hit the reply button on your email or the comment button on Substack and let me know if you’re joining me this season. 

Just don’t tweet me. I won’t see it. 🙂 

Merry Christmas. I’ll catch you next month.

It's Not Too Late For Advent

It’s Not Too Late For Advent

Posted on by Kelvey Vander Hart in S P I R I T U A L

Do you ever refuse to start something if you can’t start it from the very beginning? I’m like that in a lot of ways, and that list used to include Advent. 

I’d think about it about halfway through the season every year and set it aside. The liturgical element didn’t seem complete without the fullness of all the days leading up to Christmas. I figured I would try to get it next year. 

And then the next year. 

And the next. 

And the next…

Finally, the year I looked at my calendar in time and stepped into the season with an aim toward intention, thoughtfulness, and slowing, I realized what I missed out on for all those years. The fullness of Advent can be found in even a few days. 

Ann Voskamp writes in The Greatest Gift (my favorite Advent devotional), 

“If, just for a moment, you stand in the doorway, linger a bit in front of the tree, it’s strange how you can see it – how every Christmas tree is a ladder and Jesus is your ladder who hung on that Tree…so you can have the gift of rest. When you are wrung out, that is the sign you’ve been reaching for the rungs. The work at the very heart of salvation is the work of the very heart of Christmas: simply rest.” 

And later,

“Stars will come in the night sky, shimmer somewhere. Advent will keep coming, this love story that never stops coming. Love like this could make us wonder. Somewhere, carols play.”

If we refuse to let ourselves step into Advent imperfectly, we ignore the purpose of Advent. To come, be with our God. To slow for a season. To remember for a season. To see things through His eyes for a season. 

C.S. Lewis once said, 

“When the year dies in preparation for the birth 

Of other seasons, not the same, on the same earth, 

Then saving and calamity go together make

The Advent gospel, telling how the heart will break. 

Therefore it was in Advent that the Quest began.”

If you haven’t been remembering Advent, or if you have still been rushing through this season, it’s not too late. It’s not too late to read back through the Old Testament and everything it said about Jesus before his birth. It’s not too late to sit on the couch, stare at the Christmas lights, slowly sip a cup of coffee, and simply let yourself think. It’s not too late to embrace this season with intention. 

Because isn’t that the truth we cling to in Jesus? That even at our worst, his birth meant it wasn’t too late for humanity to return to and be saved their God? Advent is time dedicated to rest in that truth – lean in.

How the season of Advent allows us to reclaim a meaningful Christmas.

Advent Liturgy To Reclaim Christmas Spirituality

Posted on by Kelvey Vander Hart in S P I R I T U A L

The past few years, I have cringed my way through the month of December, mulling over the fact that the Grinch and I seemed to have more in common than I originally thought.

Why? Because I so, SO disliked Christmas. Continue reading “Advent Liturgy To Reclaim Christmas Spirituality” →