What follows is a repost of an article I wrote here on the blog during Advent 2017.
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Special Advent readings and devotionals. Advent candles. Advent crafts, art studies, and activities. The to-do list this season grows ever longer each year, and the mommy guilt grows ever deeper right along with it.
Houston, we have a problem.
It has become fashionable in recent years to do “all the things” Advent-style. What was once simply a Mary-style lovely, restful, slow-paced anticipatory four weeks leading up to our Christmas Day celebration of the birth of Christ has now become a Martha-style striving to “do it all”.
During the Advent season, we (even if only subconsciously) believe our worth as moms comes from whether or not we are daily opening with our children a new little door on our Advent calendars. We think our status of being a “good mom” is reliant upon our reading a portion of the Christmas story or an Advent devotional with them every day. We believe ourselves to be bad moms if we are not printing out our Jesse tree ornaments or following the Jesus Storybook Bible reading plan for Advent or lighting a new Advent candle each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas.
Satan has entered yet again, mamas, taking what could be a beautiful, meaningful, impactful season and turning it into just another season of striving. He has been whispering lies of what “good moms” are busy doing this time of year, and we are making the mistake of believing him.
Here’s the thing – you know all those ways of celebrating and commemorating Advent which I mentioned above? I actually have specific plans already laid out to do them all with my kiddos this year! But if at any time they begin to detract from the whole reason for the season, if at any time they begin to actually take away from the true purpose of this time of year – that of teaching my little ones the implications of Christmas, keeping my heart and the hearts of my family members on why we celebrate the baby in the manger, and fostering a heart of anticipation for the second coming of Christ just as Advent points back to those who had hearts of anticipation for the first coming of the Messiah, then all those things are going to go out the window. If the lighting of the candles and the reading of the devotionals and the opening of the calendars and the placing of the ornaments all becomes too much and this mama turns into a stressed out, frustrated, overwhelmed grouch of a person, then we are going to be taking a step back and renewing our minds in the truths of God’s Word. Because, here’s the thing – as wonderful as Advent practices are, they are not found in God’s Word and are not actually expected of us.
Here’s where the truth of the gospel comes into the equation. The gospel says that it is not in our accomplishments that our worth is found. Rather our worth is found in the Lord’s accomplishment of making us in His image. Our acceptance is based in Christ’s accomplishment on the cross. It is not in what we do, but in what Christ has already done. Our identity as moms is not based in whether or not we dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s on the Advent to-do list. Our identity as moms is in our following Christ and relying upon Him. It is in knowing our standing before God in Christ as a mom redeemed, forgiven, and made new. It is not in whether or not we hang all our ornaments or get through each day on the interactive Advent calendar.
To read the rest of this article, click here.
