The First Candle - Hope

Advent started Sunday, and with Advent I wanted to do a blog series on the 5 candles in the Advent wreath. 

As a child, each family in our church would take turns lighting a candle on the advent wreath. There would be scripture, a poem, and a prayer to recite along with that. I never thought much about what each candle meant, but I remember every year being excited about which candle I would get to light (You would want to be the 4th Sunday so you could light the most candles!).

The first candle symbolizes HOPE - "The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah"  ~ Jeremiah 33:14. On this first week we are to remember that when Jesus came, he was fulfilling a promise from God that a Savior would come, a hope written by the prophets. We have the same hope today. We as Christians live for the promise that Christ will come again one day.

But we shouldn't just sit around with that hope bottled up inside of us. We should be the hope others are looking for in this world. I grew up with a church member who used to say "You may be the only bible a careless world will read". This statement is so true. It seems like the news is filled with bad things happening; a child is abused by the person who is supposed to protect them, a couple dies in a house fire caused by a space heater, people are killing each other over the latest black Friday deal. This advent season, I am going to strive to be the hope that others need. I have made it my mission to do random acts of kindness, one a day from now until Christmas, and be the only bible this careless world will read. I have found this calendar with a months worth of "RACKS" which I will use as a guide but I will create my own too! 

I can't wait to make others smile, it wont change the world but it just might change one person's life and it will most certainly change mine!