Day Four

by Brian Argo

“I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” -John 16:28

Years ago my family and I found ourselves desperately homesick while Sarah and I were missionaries in language school. We’d been in Costa Rica for two months when we shifted into the Advent season. One typical thing that happens with missionaries in the field is that they get very homesick during holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially toward the start of their first term.

That Advent, three things made it different from previous ones. First, we focused on giving thanks every day. To mark this, we each lit a candle each day for something for which we were thankful. Second, we read aloud every day some story that illustrated the gospel. In this case, we read Keeping Holiday by Starr Meade. Last, we focused less on giving gifts. We focused on fewer gifts that had more meaning, but we also spent more time reflecting on what a wonderful thing Christ did by leaving his home to be with us so that he might take us home with him someday. We did this by reading the birth narratives in the gospels and singing songs together.

Regardless of where you spend the Advent season, it has potential to stir a homesickness within us. We often try to satisfy that longing with more activities and lavish gifts. But what if you actually stopped everything so that you could remember that Christ left home for you? What if, instead of watching your traditional Christmas go-to films, you read something together as a family that illustrated the gospel? All I know is that, when we were most homesick, Christ met us and comforted us by stirring a new longing: not to be back in the United States, but ultimately to be home with him.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, please stir within us a longing to be home with you. For we know that you alone can and will sustain us until we go to be with you forever.

“Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” -1 Thessalonians 4:17