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Holiday glitter can sting when the heart is tender, so we slow down and name what’s real: Advent and grief both teach us how to wait. Remember the courage it takes to admit our limits, the grace of beginning with Jesus, and the honest paradox of holding sorrow and joy in the same hands.  And a hopeful way forward for anyone who feels out of sync with the season.

We explore the tension between cultural pressure to “make it magical” and the gospel’s invitation to place our grief beside us and wait anyway. Drawing on voices like Fr. David Barnes and Henri Nouwen, we look at how  paralysis becomes the doorway to grace, and how Mary and Elizabeth show us that community is a sacred space where we keep the flame alive for one another. Along the way, we highlight simple rituals—lighting the Advent wreath, reading a few lines of scripture, sharing one memory at the table—that ground us when the days are long and the nights feel heavier than usual.

If you’re carrying loss through the holidays, you’re not an outsider to hope—you’re exactly where Advent speaks the loudest. Listen, share with someone who needs a gentle word, and if this conversation helps you exhale, subscribe and leave a review so others can find their way to the light too.

We explore how Advent speaks to grief by inviting honest waiting, not forced cheer. We place sorrow beside hope, lean on community, and remember the light that darkness cannot overcome.

• Advent as a season for honest waiting
• the paradox of joy amid loss
• community as shared space to wait
• Advent wreath as a practice of hope
• the light shines and darkness cannot overcome it

If you have questions about spiritual direction while grieving, or grief support or grief groups in your community, my contact information is in the show notes.

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION WHILE GRIEVING IS AVAILABLE

Art:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/vasonaArts?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
and  https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/candee-lucas

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F2SFH4Z6

Music and sound effects today by:   via Pixabay