This is Advent season. This means that we participate in the expectation of Christ’s return and the remembrance of His incarnation. We celebrate this season as a time of looking forward and looking back. It is a season of hope and joy, of peace and celebration. We are called to an expectant waiting on the Lord to reveal Himself to us again. A hope in the future that Christ has offered to us and is offering to us each day, a new life in the Kingdom of God. This is not the anticipation of a trip somewhere else but the expectant waiting for our King to return and reclaim what is rightfully His. As we step into Advent we are stepping into this expectant hope and the celebration of what Christ’s incarnation and His return mean for us.

November is a time for us to consider the blessings that God had granted us over the course of the last year. We take time to celebrate those blessings with friends and family. Our moments of remembrance and communal acknowledgment of God’s blessing in our lives is something special. This is a great practice and part of me wonders what it might be like if we did this more often.

^“16 Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Scripture encourages us to always be celebrating what God is doing and in constant communication with Him about what is going on in our lives. We are to give thanks at all times, recognizing what God has given us and thanking Him for His power and presence in our lives. God’s will for us is a continual stream of communication and connection with Him. To understand that we were created to have that kind of intimate relationship with God is a pretty powerful thing. As we move into this season of Thanksgiving, let it be only the beginning of this process and practice of communicating with God that we are grateful for all He does for us, not just one day or one month a year, but every day of every month of the year.

What are you thankful for today?

And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Mark 7:14-23

In this passage we see that Christ is challenging the idea of dietary uncleanness within Israel. He uses the biological process He created as an illustration for teaching. Food goes into your stomach, is processed, and then expelled. By highlighting this process Jesus is showing that it is not food which defiles a person but their hearts. What goes into you isn’t defiling, what comes out of your heart is.

Christ says that it is what comes out of our hearts that matters. The thing that reveals what we are consuming in our hearts is what we are producing from them. Good goes in and good comes out or evil goes in and evil goes out. Sometimes we receive evil things and, through God’s processes in our hearts, He is able to make good come out. A healthy heart is revealed by its output. We are known by our fruit. As we go into fall, a time of harvest, I wonder what kind of fruit is being produced in our hearts and what bounty the Lord will gather in us.

“‎Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, ‎whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, ‎that sends out its roots by the stream, ‎and does not fear when heat comes, ‎for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8

The idea of trust as the thing that roots us and sustains us is a pretty amazing one. In the passage above we are told that trust in the Lord is essential to getting through life’s difficult times. Trusting God’s goodness to sustain us is not always easy though. We experience a lot of pain and suffering in this world and it often makes us question God’s goodness. We wonder why He would allow terrible things to take place. Or why our loved ones have suffered in the ways they have. Or why He hasn’t come back yet.

Whatever we wonder it isn’t unique to us. Humanity has been asking these questions about God’s goodness since the first time we questioned Him in the garden and found ourselves in a broken relationship with Him. Yet over and over again throughout scripture God continues to reveal His goodness and love to us. He remains faithful to provide a source of life in the deserts of life. Sometimes it is hard to trust in His goodness but it is the only way to make it through the darkness and the drought of pain and sorrow. God provides fruit for our lives even in those seasons when we trust in Him and allow Him to be our sustainer.