My friend Nathan Aaberg is a deep, heartfelt thinker. Like me, he combines his faith with an earnest desire to restore and protect God’s good earth. So when he mentioned the book All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings, by Gayle Boss, I immediately added it to my list. Now that it’s Advent, I’m “opening a door each day,” as we love to do in this season—in this case, a chapter a day.
It’s probably not highly credible of me to review a book after reading only the intro and first chapter. But here’s what I like so far, especially in this COVID year. The author takes a step back from the commercialized holiday season and examines Advent according to the quiet rhythms of nature. She writes about the wintering habits of 25 species of northern hemisphere animals—one for each day of Advent—and then metaphorically applies them to our hope in Christ.
When life as we know it goes, this year and at the end of all years, One comes, and comes bringing a new beginning.“
Gayle Boss, All Creation Awaits
Isn’t it amazing how fitting Boss’s words are for 2020? She tugged my emotions with her Day 1 observation of the painted turtle, the very treasure my 2-year-old granddaughter sought as we kayaked this summer. In those days, turtles were sunning themselves on warm, marsh logs. Now, according to her book, they’ve dug themselves deep into the mud, waiting beneath the frigid waters until warm days come once again.
As cold and dark as it seems now and even though we’re unable to celebrate this year’s holidays with our loved ones, today’s painted turtle reminds me the darkness is not an end. Rather it’s a door to a new beginning.
And that is what Advent is all about.
Love to hear from you!