It's been a challenging year. We could use Advent to help us recover. +++ Advent is a season to help us get ready for Christmas. By spending time slowing down our busy schedules, we can prepare our hearts and minds to remember Christ's first coming and to anticipate the second. Or we can open calendar boxes with chocolate. That's in a usual year. In 2020, all our routines have been disrupted. We could use some help with making sense of the year. And Advent is a perfect season for looking back and looking forward. Giving a Year Meaning: A Healing Journal for Advent 2020 walks you through this Advent with reflections and activities designed to help you find meaning and healing. Rather than wise sayings or interesting stories this is a journal that will invite you to reflect on things we may have missed during the year and then take steps to remember and recover those things. For example, some of us have forgotten to smile. Some of us have missed out on comforting others in their pain because of our own distraction. Some of us have gotten pretty upset with others. Some of us have forgotten what did work. Developed by a hospital chaplain, this journal gives us all the experiences that can help. The journal runs from November 29 (the first Sunday of Advent) through December 31, one entry every day. It can be completed alone or as part of a family or other group conversation.