Hope is never loud for me. It doesn’t sweep in with trumpets. It doesn’t usually come with a lot of fanfare. It’s not even usually that obvious. It comes quietly in my experience. Sort of like the very small, very steady light of Christ entering the world in a manger.
It shows up like a small, stubborn flame that refuses to go out.
Jesus usually meets us in the understated places, through the understated people, through the quieter moments that healed more than we expected or in the grace that surprised us in people — the people who reflected the steadfastness of Jesus when everything around us was trembling or shaky or crumbling.
So, this week, let’s look for the small lights and quit waiting for the fireworks. Those small lights are generally the places that Jesus draws near.
I love this poem called “Hope is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson:
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops – at all
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm
I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest Sea
Yet – never – in Extremity
It asked a crumb – of me.
My invitation to you is to light a candle — whatever you have, wherever you are — and sit with it quietly for one minute. Can you give it one minute and ask Jesus to bring to mind one moment from this year where His hope, however faint, was present.
Where did you encounter the hope of Jesus this year? Was it through a person? Was it through a moment? Was it through a circumstance? Was it just a gentle shift in your spirit?
Here is to gathering even the smallest light and remembering it’s often Jesus.
As we step into Advent this year, may we think about all the little glimmers we missed while rushing through life. May we remember that hope is often found in those places: in what healed a little, in what surprised us, in the people who kept us upright when the ground shook.
This season, I created an Advent Guide for my Substack community with rituals, blessings, poems, readings, and journal prompts.
if you’d like access to my full Advent Guide: Gathering the Light – A December Journey of Hope, Peace, Joy & Love, click here to subscribe.
This Advent Guide is not a checklist, a Bible study, or a rigid plan. It’s a companion for December — a month that pulls at our hearts in a hundred directions.
Each week includes:
- A weekly reflection to help you slow down and notice your life with tenderness.
- A poem chosen to stir something true and steady inside you.
- A simple ritual you can do at home — nothing elaborate, just small sacred practices for real women with real weeks.
- A meditation to anchor your heart in the Advent theme of Hope, Peace, Joy, or Love.
- A spiritual reading or blessing (written in a liturgical, nourishing style) to speak light over your days.
- Optional journal prompts for when you want to go a little deeper — gentle, not demanding.
