A pause in Advent

The fourth candle to be lit for Advent is for JOY

It is such a lovely word and yet does seem old fashioned and seldom used these days.

Is this because our lives have less joy in them?

or do we forget to stop and think about what makes use joyous?

Joy means 'an emotion of great happiness'

I certainly have emotions of great happiness sometimes. We went to celebrate my mums 70th birthday yesterday. We had a small close family gathering with a lovely meal out and cake and presents. There was lots of joy yesterday.

I made a 'This is your life' type book for mum. starting with the few photos from her childhood and finishing with the ones we took of her on her allotment this year, many people sent me little stories or memories of her and I put these in to. She kept looking at it all evening and it made her happy.

If that's not joyous I don't know what is.

A pause in Advent

The third candle to be lit at Advent is for Love

I am blessed to have such loving family and friends.

See the little girl on the right above?

that's little old me aged about 5 or 6.

I grew up in a loving family and although sometimes things were hard, I can honestly say I never went without love.

A pause in Advent

The second candle to be lit in Advent is for Peace.

I am not naive enough to think this world will ever be in total peace but there is an inner peace we can all aim for.

In amongst this hustle and bustle everyone should take time to stop, reflect and find some peace.

As you can see, Lucy has it down to a fine art.

A pause in Advent

I am joining Floss in A pause in Advent.

The first candle to be lit at Advent is for HOPE.

Now I have to say I am an eternal Optimist and I hope that one day my time on this earth will be for some good use. I have hope that one day soon we will open our eyes to what we do with this planet and the people, animals and places on and in it. I hope that future generations will see more clearly what needs to be done and as I light my candles today I hope to stay forever hopeful for a bright future.