(Prayer) Journal Prompts for Advent (and how to do it if you’ve never done it before)
Let the waiting bear fruit

The season of advent is a season of waiting.
When we were children, we were quite possibly waiting for something not-so-spiritual: a pile of gifts under the tree, unlimited chocolate before breakfast, a new bicycle with a giant bow.
As we grow in spiritual maturity though, we find ourselves waiting not only for the material celebration, but something much more powerful - the great feast of Christmas, in which we celebrate God’s birth.
God’s birth. How wild, that He would come to us as baby of all things. Small. Vulnerable. Cuddly. Wanting to be held close.
Advent is a season that observes the importance of waiting, of preparation for something that doesn’t quite make sense, of making space, interiorly, to receive God’s gift of Himself to us.
Advent is a season that teaches us how to wait well. It lets us practice and build that muscle of patience.
But often in life, we’re waiting for something besides Jesus: a new job, a spouse, a child, a diagnosis, a winning lottery ticket. Waiting can take up a lot of mental and emotional space.
There’s nothing wrong with waiting for these things. But Advent offers us an opportunity to practice waiting for them in light of Christ’s coming: then, in Bethlehem; now, in our hearts, and someday at the end of time - and the end of our lives.
Will we still want these things at the end of time? Where do they sit in our souls in relation to the tiny babe—Creator of the Universe—in a manger?
Maybe this Advent, we can turn off the noise – the news, the social, the music and the entertainment – and just sit in silence.
Maybe we can face that silence knowing that no matter how lonely it feels, He is eager to remind us that he is Immanuel: God-With-Us.
Maybe we can bring to that quiet space our fears, our desires, our many emotions. Maybe we can ask Him to show us where He is in all of it.
To help you reflect, here are some (prayer) journaling questions to sit with this Advent.
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