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One of my most precious spiritual practices as the nights get longer is to light a candle as a way of being with our Beloved God. The lighting of the candle tends to be coupled with journaling or simply remaining in silence. It’s also been a way to re-remember my own belovedness and to let go of my desire for control and idealism each day.

As we begin Advent, we have a beautiful opportunity to begin again. We are invited to return to Christ daily - we must be intentional about being present with the Prince of Peace during our busy lives. Yes, God is always with us. Yet we are invited to be with our Beloved each day. 

Perhaps you already have time with God daily through scripture or music. Lovely. Though I challenge you, for this season, to put those aside and explore what it is like to be with the one who is, was, and is yet to come by being in the silence. While in silence with God, we begin to notice and experience things in new ways - as if it’s a new language. It’s in the silence that our trust in God and ourselves deepens and perhaps even opens the pathway to healing. St. John of the Cross and Thomas Keating share, “silence is the first language of God. Everything else is a poor translation.” How much would your experience of God change if you communicated in God’s first language?

For this season, our spiritual practices group will be committing to the practice of lighting a candle each night to be with the light while also being with the darkness. We invite you to join us in this practice and get a glimpse into this simple contemplative practice. 

Each night, light a single candle to be reminded of the sustaining presence of our Omnipotent God. As Christians, we know that Christ is in the world today, yet we also remain in the practice of waiting for the coming of the Christ child. We hold both what is already true and what has yet to come. While our minds know this to be true, we often have not fully embodied this truth.