Are you in need of a reset?

The further we get into this year, the harder it becomes to assess which tension points are weighing on me most heavily. All I know is that 2020 has been an emotional, psychological, and spiritual roller coaster. On my best days, I’m clinging to the hope of Christ and creating space to be thankful for God’s faithfulness. While on my worst days I’m paralyzed by fear, anxiety, grief, and this physiological heaviness that I feel very near to my heart.

I don’t know about you, but for me, the ratio of good days to bad has been unfortunately skewed towards the latter this year. As the end of the year is approaching, I can’t help but wonder how long this — the challenge and frustration that has become associated with 2020 — will endure.

Sometimes things seem pretty dark, but I believe there is hope.

Advent is a season of preparation. It is a time of anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Messiah (Jesus Christ) and reflecting on the reasons we so desperately are in need of the greatest gift of all time. During this season we revisit the story of Christ’s birth to prepare our hearts and our homes to encounter Jesus in the year to come. It is a time to harness the excitement and joy that comes with the Christmas season and allow it to influence and color the way we understand God with us. Advent is a time to wonder about our Creator’s love for us and the ways that love motivates God to continually pursue us.

For all of the reasons that I just noted. Advent is supposed to be an encouraging time. Yet, as we stand at the precipice of this season. I have found myself wary to enter in. It’s as if my heart and mind are unwilling to step into Advent for the fear that, as so many other things have been in 2020, they will become tarnished and that I will be left disappointed. But, in the core of my being, I know I need Advent.

At the beginning of October, as my content creation attention shifted towards Advent, I wrote this in my daily journal:

“God, I need Advent so badly this year. I need the reset. I need the reminder. I need the joy. And I need the hope that comes with this season.”

As a result, this year’s set of Advent daily devotionals is built around the idea of creating space to reflect, lament, explore, and learn from the pain of this year as we prepare for the coming of Jesus.

Unlike the majority of the content here at Constant Source. Reset is built specifically for adults. If you’d like to go through this study with your teenagers, that would be appropriate and could also lead to some great conversation. But for the most part, this daily exercise is for you to wrestle with the challenges of this year, to evaluate the health of your mind, soul, and body, and to investigate the things that God is showing you in the midst of it all.

If you are feeling lost, downtrodden, exhausted, this devotional is for you.

If you want to find meaning in the midst of this year and are willing to do the hard work of self-reflection, this devotion is for you.

And if you just aren’t feeling the kind of joy that this season usually invokes, this devotional is for you.

Reset goes live on Monday, November 30th.

If you are ready for a reset, a fresh cleanse in order to prepare for the year ahead, sign-up to receive the devotional in your email by filling out the form below.

I hope you will join me as we intentionally focus on God and prepare for the hope found in Jesus during this Advent season.

If you can’t see the form, CLICK HERE

Reset | Advent 2020 Devotional