Two Empty Stockings & Advent Lessons

I was at the store a week ago buying stockings for my husband and I. I felt the pull to buy two more for future children we desired, but didn’t, I lacked hope that we would be able to have the children we desired. It seemed impossible and unlikely.

So far, we haven’t had any luck conceiving and I am older now with fewer fertile years left. Not to mention the high price tag of adoption and the many training hours required for fostering made these paths to children seem hopeless and out of reach.

Then a fellow Secular Franciscan lady gave me an unexpected Christmas gift this past weekend: two beautiful hand-stitched stockings that matched my home decor perfectly.

My eyes filled with tears, amazed at what God had done. Immediately, I realized I had lacked faith and in her gesture, I felt God give me hope and ask for my patience as His plan unfolds to fill those empty stockings with two more members of our family.

This is what Christ’s coming is all about as we hear in the readings today and throughout Scripture. The lame will walk. The blind will see. The prisoner will be set free. The sick will be healed. The poor will have their needs met. The orphan and widow will be cared for. The barren woman will be blessed with a child – as we see in Elizabeth. 

Nothing is impossible for God.

Jesus’ coming brings joy and hope to the places of desert and hopelessness in our lives. As His vision unfolds, patience and waiting in hope, faith and love are His asks.

Two empty stockings reminded me of that.