advent[ure].

Did you know that there was an actual diagnosable condition for being sad in the winter?

Quite appropriately, its acronym is SAD -- Seasonal Affective Disorder -- and, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, it is "a type of depression that comes and goes with the seasons, typically starting in the late fall and early winter and going away during the spring and summer."

And I'm pretty sure I have it. Seriously. The doctor told me a couple of years ago I had a Vitamin D deficiency, which can be one of the causes of SAD. So there's that. And, I know many people would disagree with me, but I personally don't think there are many redeemable qualities about winter. I'm a baby about the cold, I hate that it gets dark so early, all of nature goes into hibernation mode, and snow may be pretty, but it's also pretty inconvenient. Give me sunshine and leaves and flowers and long days and beaches (and even the humidity) any day.

But whether or not you share my aversion to winter, do you ever feel like you're in the metaphorical "winter" of life? That the months of dark-gray vibes and shudder-worthy temperatures and "I can't put my arms down" layers (this....this is how I feel in winter) will never end and you ache for the coming of spring?

I've been listening to Hillsong's new song, "Seasons," a lot lately:

The lyrics in this song have really been resonating with me in this particular "season" of my life: a little over halfway through grad school, landing here shortly after ending an exciting/challenging season of living overseas, looking ahead and wondering what's beyond the bend in the road that is graduation...feeling like this is a training ground...a time of preparation for something...not really desiring to stay in this place/this season forever but hoping the future involves serving the Lord with the gifts and passions he's given me (and hopefully making money doing that because, ya know, that does help) and having a family of my own and possibly living overseas again. And the struggles of the single/dating life and being a full-time student with a plurality of part-time jobs is just so real. So these lyrics have met me right smack dab where I currently am:

Like the frost on a rose
Winter comes for us all
Oh how nature acquaints us
With the nature of patience...

Though the winter is long even richer
The harvest it brings
Though my waiting prolongs even greater
Your promise for me; like a seed
I believe that my season will come...

I can see the promise
I can see the future
You’re the God of seasons
I’m just in the winter
If all I know of harvest
Is that it’s worth my patience
Then if You’re not done working
God I’m not done waiting
You can see my promise
Even in the winter
Cause You’re the God of greatness
Even in a manger
For all I know of seasons
Is that You take Your time
You could have saved us in a second
Instead You sent a child...

Another season Christians are currently living is that of Advent. Advent means "a coming into being," and at Christmas, it is a season of waiting and anticipation for the celebration of Christ's first coming...and truly "coming into being" as a human child. As the song "Arrival" (another track on Hillsong's new Christmas album) perfectly puts it:

Who is God that He would take our frame
The artisan inside the paint
Or breathe the very air His breath sustains
The architect inside the plan...

Oh come now hail His arrival
The God of creation
Royalty robed in the flesh He created
Jesus the maker has made Himself known
All hail the infinite infant God...

The holy Word of God defined by name
The author climbed inside the page...

God embraced our frame
When He graced the world He made
All hail the divine in a manger
Love embraced our fate
When the playwright took the stage...

At Christmastime, we put ourselves in the nation of Israel's shoes in the anticipation of the arrival of their Servant King. In the cold and the dark and the seemingly dead, we eagerly await the dawning of the Light of the World. 

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them a light has dawned...
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulders,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 6:2,6).

"In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it....And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:1-5,14).

So Advent. A season of waiting. Of longing. Of anticipation.

But did you know that, etymologically speaking, the word "adventure" finds its roots in the Latin word for "advent"?

So what if we looked at the waiting/longing/winter seasons of our lives as an adventure? Because it is. All of it. Waiting for _________ does NOT mean you have to wait of joy. Not [yet] having __________ (insert "that job," "that house," "that spouse," "that baby") does NOT disqualifying you from going all in right where you are...serving God and loving the people right in front of you. Here. Not somewhere else. 

I read this quote from the ever-wise and well-spoken Elisabeth Elliot recently: "[This] job has been given to me to do. Therefore it is a gift. Therefore it is a privilege. Therefore it is an offering I may make to God. Therefore it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him ... Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God's way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness ... With Your help I will do it gladly, faithfully, and I will trust You to make me holy." 

Hence, while I love the song "Seasons," my beef with it is that it disregards (or at least discounts) the discipline of contentment in the here and now in favor of fixing our eyes on the future (perceived as "better") season. While we should (prayerfully) look forward in eager expectation for God to work wonders in our lives, we should not set our hopes on __________. While "Seasons" is honest about the angst and ache of the winter of waiting, we are not called to merely hibernate, putting out lives on pause until the warmth and light of spring dawns. We are called to "mak[e] the most of [our] time" (Ephesians 5:16).

We are in the in-between. Our King has already come, but we're not yet with him fully forever. So there is disappointment and brokenness and pain. But that Day is coming. That Restoration -- the "summer" season -- the "making all things new" promised in Revelation 21 is not far off.

So find the beauty in the bleak midwinter. In this time, perhaps, of heartache and hardship. In this period of waiting for ___________. Go play in the snow. Curl up by the fire. Drink all the hot chocolate and listen to all the Christmas music and wear lots of flannel. Rejoice "with exceeding great joy" (Matthew 2:20). And go and tell the world where True Hope/Peace/Joy can be found.