We must remind ourselves that every season has a purpose until we believe.

This post is in congruence with the Seasons: Advent Devotional. To learn more, click here. 

The final week of Advent. In today’s readings we get to finally hear about Joseph.

To prepare for this week's post, read Matthew 1:18-24, Isaiah 7:6-10, and Esther 4:14. If you're up to it: listen to this song. 

Joseph’s experience in this is a little complicated. On one hand, he isn’t the one faced with the immaculate conception. On the other hand, he has to explain the immaculate conception to the judgemental and straightforward culture that he finds himself in. I’ve always struggled a little bit with his side of the story. I found myself getting frustrated that his first concern is the reputation being betrothed to a pregnant woman might carry without worrying about the wellbeing of his young wife to be facing one of the most precious tasks a woman could be faced with in human history: mothering the Savior of the world. The text has a fast turnaround between the moment in which Joseph comes to terms with his future and the moment in which Joseph is prepared to divorce Mary. I imagine this process probably took the entire pregnancy for him to be convinced that this moment was meant for him. After moving into my room for my junior year of college and dropping my parents off at the airport, I had a moment like Joseph where I was ready to turn around and hit reset on my life. I was facing the transfer process and I was incredibly doubtful of how I was going to move forward in this new season of life. Like Esther, I was facing a lot of situations in my life that I wasn’t sure I was capable of facing. I resonate with Joseph for the first time feeling like he needed to rest in his fear because it was easier than facing the truth. I think that’s how a lot of us might feel surrounding the holiday seasons; that with family drama, family losses, loss of jobs, major transitions, it feels easier to rest in the fear and to hide away from where God is shining a light into our futures. I see it this way: that there’s a small light at the end of a long tunnel that is calling us into a life with God that is sacred and holy and full of love and joy, but to get there you have to get through the dark parts. The hope that I leave with you is that Joseph’s willingness to believe that he was made for the season he faced gave him the greatest gift anyone could ever receive: a lifetime with Jesus the Christ.  The season that you may find yourself in might not illuminate such hope, but think about what we’ve discussed over the past three weeks. We are bound to experience different seasons of life and they are bound to affect us differently. In other words: life just sucks sometimes and it seems like it sucks more for us than it sucks for others. But God, in His mercy, sent us a Son that gave us a ticket into the Kingdom of Heaven so that we will never judge or be judged by the season of lives we face but by the grace of God that surpasses all understanding. When that isn’t enough, we should be reminded that no matter what season we face, it’s bound to change again. So now we have the courage through the hope we find in Jesus to say that every season we face has a purpose. It all connects! The advent season may be coming to a close, but the hope we find in this season carries us through each day that we face. May God continue to reveal the glory of the season of Advent to you continually. ​