Press play people. Stop fast forwarding!

I'm a seminary student at Luther Seminary... right now we are in the season of Advent which is all about waiting.... It got me thinking about how awful we are at doing this well, and how much better our lives would be if we got better at it. Essentially - if we stop trying to rush through the painful times in our lives, and started living into them and dealing with them, then we could be on the road to a more holistic life, one of less self-hatred and addictions to cover up emotions we don't allow ourselves to have... Here's my quick lil facebook post for my #adventphotoaday #rethinkchurch during this season of Advent... I could give examples, but come up with your own. Read into it for yourself. Insert your suffering here:
____________________________________________________________________________

When in the midst of waiting for resurrection, for happiness, for healing, for joy, for life - oh hell, for us to stop feeling sick, for our wounded hearts to be mended from a breakup, for a job, for healing from the death of a loved one, for healing from a broken bone - we are so eager to "fast forward" and get to the GOOD stuff right? We tell other people that we "Hope you feel better soon... it will get better soon... get over it... at least it's not that bad... let's celebrate their life INSTEAD of mourning their death..." Essentially, let's put a bandaid on our shit and just keep moving forward, preferably faster.

But yo, a cut that isn't taken care of, can get infected and cause way more damage, sometimes fatal.

We're so quick to want to skip over the hardships and get to the good, that sometimes the wounds get deeper and more destructive...

Advent is all about waiting. Waiting for the birth of our savior. And damnit, sometimes we just want it to be Christmas already, fast forward... But living in advent, wrestling with and the naming of our hardships, will cause for a healthier looking scar in the long run.

Instead of pressing fast forward or pause, press play. Live into it. Feel it. Mourn, cry, yell, scream, be upset... Advent doesn't last forever. There is hope in the end... #time #adventphotoaday #rethinkchurch