They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” – Luke 24:32

The angels are already out there, and they are singing their hearts out for us. Can you hear anything? Can you see?

One of the things Rebekah does really well (other than everything) is being an amazing grandmama (fun, loving, encouraging, engaging, and more). I do a lot of good stuff with David and Beks, but she tends to add a layer of creativity and meaning that goes beyond. Crafts, and gardening, and stories, and of course – their favorite – making angel biscuits.

So we “borrowed” the grandkids again after Thanksgiving, and they’re helping get the Christmas season launched here at Maul-Hall. Well, at least setting the stage, post-Thanksgiving, getting us in the festive frame of reference.

Friday night we introduced the children to “The Polar Express”. And the Polar Express, just in case you don’t already know the story, is about the power of belief. “Though I have grown old,” the narrator says at the end, “the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.”

And I can hear, in the background, Jesus telling his followers one more time to, “Put your listening ears on.” Because the angels are out there, singing their hearts out for us, and we don’t hear but maybe the faintest possible echo of a random lost note, tailing off, echoing into the spiritual silence that our lives so readily become.

This is one reason I love this week, filling the gap between Thanksgiving and the beginning of Advent. I call it “Advent, the Prequel” – and I love it because it’s an opportunity to get our listening ears tuned in, our hearts turned toward where we know we should be paying attention, our spiritual receptors polished up and refocused.

This week we’re getting ready to get ready for Christmas. We’re preparing our hearts to begin the process of receiving the King.

You see, the angels are already out there, and they are singing their hearts out for us. Can you hear anything? Can you see?  ““Were not our hearts burning within us…”

Are not our hearts burning within us? Now is the time. Now. Is. The. Time.