advent.

Here it comes. Can you hear it?

And lo, it came to pass that there was a Black Friday sale! But Christmas was not in the sale.
And lo, after the sale there was a dazzle of commercials and ads! But Christmas was not in the commercials or the ads.
And lo, after the ads there was a flurry of carols and radio airplay and jingle bells and pageants! But Christmas was not in the carols, airplay, jingle bells, or pageants. 
And after the carols, airplay, jingle bells, pageants...one flickering candle and a still small voice crying from the midst of a desert nowhere:
Prepare ye a way for the LORD; clear a straight path for Him.

And Christmas came, but they did not recognize it, and neither do I.
Not then, and certainly not now.

Do you hear it? It is sneaking up on you. It is sneaking up on me. It is craftier than us, because it is far older than we are. Listen well, and you may yet hear its footsteps behind, before, around us. It is the intake of breath before the exhalation that worries the candles, trembles the air, fills the spaces. It will appear in the edge of our vision, in the corner we are not watching. It will descend when we have given it up, it will appear when it is least observed.

Here it comes. Can you hear it?