Today marks the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the time of anticipatory waiting which culminates in the birth of the Divine Child.
What are you looking forward to with holy anticipation?
A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
―John A. Shedd
What draws you away from the safety and comfort of home into adventure?
She came every morning to draw water
Like an old bat staggering up the field:
The pump’s whooping cough, the bucket’s clatter
And slow diminuendo as it filled,
Announced her. I recall
Her gray apron, the pocked white enamel
Of the brimming bucket, and the treble
Creak of her voice like the pump’s handle.
Nights when a full moon lifted past her gable
It fell back through her window and would lie
Into the water set out on the table.
Where I have dipped to drink again, to be
Faithful to the admonishment on her cup,
Remember the Giver fading off the lip.
―Seamus Heaney
Who are the givers you remember with gratitude this Thanksgiving?