Keeping with this week's themes of silence and waiting, a quote from Frederick Buechner:

In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is far off in the deeps of it somewhere a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. . . You are aware of the beating of your heart…

The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.

Advent is like that moment at the top of the roller coaster, when you come over the crest and stop - however briefly - before rushing onward into the thrill. Advent is like the nearly imperceptible moment between inhaling and exhaling, when all breathing stops, just for a fraction of a second. Advent the feeling of being suspended, weightless, breathless, still.

Amidst the bustling world - our everyday tasks, our preparations, our decorating, our shopping - our peculiar joy as people of faith is to stop and to be still, in the quiet of our hearts, claiming sanctuary from the whirling motion of life to indulge the "extraordinary moment just before [something] happens."

Wishing you stillness and peace today, and throughout your Advent journey.