Advent is my favorite time of year and I love that our church celebrates Christ’s coming the four Sundays before Christmas. This year I’ve felt a pull to celebrate Advent in two specific ways and I invite you to join me!
LAZY DINNERS
This first idea came while having dinner with a few friends. When I arrived, candles were lit and dinner was completely prepared.! I didn’t have to bring a side dish or even a salad. It felt like special treatment.
Anyways, we were sitting around the table and somehow the idea emerged to celebrate Advent once a week by turning off our screens and lights to enjoy time with friends, a good book, and “lazy” dinners where no cooking is required. I’m excited to light candles and turn off our phones, saying goodbye to noise and productivity for the evening!
UNPLUGGED
The second idea came when I spent well over the intended time scrolling through social media one night. I love social media. I love posting photos on Instagram, chronicling little moments of everyday life, and keeping up with friends far away. Sending and receiving memes is like a love language to me. I love being able to stalk/make fun of my favorite celebrities. (Justin Baldoni just had his second child and has a lot of feelings about it, as do I.)
As much as I love what social media can bring, I know how much power it has to steal my time and thoughts. So...I decided to take a social media break. Sheer muscle memory kept sending my thumbs to where my social apps were on my phone, so I actually deleted the apps. I downloaded them again several days later, but still, that short break restored a little balance into my life. I’ve been deleting my apps on and off for a couple weeks now and it is GREAT!
Maybe you’re going through something heart-wrenching, so looking at other people’s seemingly perfect posts (keyword - seemingly) is not healthy for you right now. Maybe you simply spend way too much time scrolling mindlessly and you struggle to maintain good habits (cough cough, going to bed at a reasonable hour). Maybe you don’t read books at the rate you used to or you simply don’t allow time for your brain to decompress. Inspiration and creativity flourish when you give yourself a break from being preoccupied.
Go take a walk, stare out the window, call a friend, write that thoughtful note you’ve been meaning to write...be present in your world. Going down a social media rabbit trail to find out more about Justin Bieber’s spirituality at midnight can wait. (On a side note, I’m realizing that a lot of my favorite celebrities are named Justin and I can’t change that.)
I hope you will join me during this Advent season to take it slow for a night and to take frequent breaks from social media. Let’s make space for God to show us something new this season.
Meet the Author!
Makenzie graduated from Wheaton College where she majored in Christian Ministry, Urban Studies, and Photography and somehow managed to apply all of her degrees to work in the real world! She has a passion for community development after years working in urban ministry in Chicago, non-profits in Austin, and part-time roles at CRBC the past 4&1/2 years. She loves being able to equip and serve the church and recently stepped into the full-time role as Minister of Missions at CRBC which includes both local and global partnerships. Despite being the missions minister, she is quite the homebody. She is an avid Harry Potter fan, loves Oklahoma City, and loves to be with her friends, family, and ADORABLE weenie dog, May.