by Sarah Bourns Crosby
The Christian tradition of Advent is a season of both remembrance and looking ahead, of waiting and stillness. Whether you use this devotional guide over the dinner table, with a small group, or individually, we pray it will enrich your life in Christ this Advent season. For those who wait, wander, and weep, for those experiencing loss, longing, and love this Christmas—may you come to know afresh that He is with you.
READ
Exodus 29:44–46; Psalm 139; John 1:14
WITH
A love poem
Love wants to be with
Love needs to be near
Love can’t stay away
Love has to be here.
Love comes close
Love holds tight
Love moves over
Love sits beside.
Love pours out
Love leans in
Love goes first
Love tries again.
Love leaps over hurdles
Love jumps through hoops
Love stays despite struggles
Love still chooses you.
Love looks for the lonely
Love lives on the margins
Love crosses all boundaries
Love seeks the forgotten.
Love becomes flesh
Love moves in
Love is here
Love dwells among.
Love is within us
Close by us
Around us
Beside us.
The very definition of LOVE is: WITH.
Near enough to touch
His presence here to dwell
God. With. Us.
Our Emmanuel.
A PROMPT
When you love someone, you want to be near them. You like being around them. You think about them when you’re apart and make plans to be together again.
How have you experienced God’s love for you in these ways?
When was the last time you sensed the WITH-ness of Jesus?
How was He present to you? How were you present to Him?
Sarah Bourns Crosby writes poetry around themes of hope, waiting, lament, love, and God’s faithfulness. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and twin sons. You can read more of her work at sarahbournscrosby.com.