Well, there they are – Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love!
Perhaps the most challenging has been Joy, associated yesterday with the Gospel of Matthew’s focus on troubled Joseph’s angelic visitation commanding him to proceed with his betrothal to the strangely pregnant Mary. Thus the introduction of Brené Brown’s phrase “foreboding joy” – the sense that yes, there is something big to embrace, but get ready for struggle along the way – the call to engage vulnerability with gratitude.
Collect
O wounded One who engaged human life in fullness knowing the journey ahead, grant us the courage to embrace the full panorama of our human experience with gratitude and abandonment, that we may know the depths of your joy.
Haiku
Hail foreboding joy
Grasping fast the thorny rose
Gifting aroma
Wondering Pilgrim 
One thought on “Advent Gifts Unwrapped – foreboding joy”