Home > Advent Blog 2025
Keep Awake. Be Aware.
December 16, 2025
Zechariah 2:1-13 | Psalm 45|3:14-22 |Matthew 24:32-44
Advent is a time when I deliberately try to slow down and practice an attentiveness that escapes me much of the year. With intention and patience, I notice small everyday happenings that pass quickly from sight if I am not paying attention. This attentiveness helps me see what I often miss. It might occur when walking through a late-fall garden with bushes turned brown and leaves piled against the roots. I see a squirrel furiously digging for a place to deposit some seeds for winter food, preparing for the winter to come. Or I might witness the flight of a bright red cardinal against the new-fallen snow in the backyard as he searches for something to eat. Or see a brilliant sunset after a stormy day. It takes time to stop, look, and be present to what is around you.
The awareness that I try to cultivate extends to seeing those around me. Paying attention to the people whose paths I cross allows me to offer a smile or stop for a chat as my day goes by. We spend so much time on autopilot moving at a fierce pace to the next thing on our ‘to do’ list that we often do not see others or their needs at all. Slowing down not only adds a richness to my days but can keep me attuned to what is happening in my community that I have not noticed.
And it is true in my relationship with God. I have my cherished practices of prayer, reading, and worship that feed me throughout the year, but during Advent, I try to look for other opportunities to encounter the holy. I need to “keep awake” to see God’s actions in the world around me. It might mean taking a few minutes to look and really see what is happening. It might be having a conversation with someone with no agenda other than to actively listen to their words, for God often speaks through the voices of others. Or it might be putting aside some extra time to pray and quietly listen for God’s wisdom and to say thank you to God for his unwavering love and presence in my life.
Betsy Fornal
Photo courtesy of Noel Bailey Robinson
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