My Advent Diary
By Dixie Darr
I know I’m a day late. Advent started yesterday, but yesterday, I just wasn’t feeling up to writing. You see, my sister-in-law, Carolyn Stewart, passed away on Friday after a long battle with lung cancer. We knew she wasn’t doing well after what was deemed a “successful” surgery back in August. Using a new laser technique, they got all the cancer, but she developed pneumonia and other complications that she just couldn’t beat. She was 58 years old and had smoked Marlboros for 30 years. She was the love of my stepbrother Bob’s life and our hearts are broken from her loss.
I stood up to the news fairly well until I went to church yesterday. I started crying and just couldn’t seem to stop. Maybe I should have just gone home, and that was my first inclination, but I wanted desperately to go to church and find some comfort. So I wept throughout the service, feeling foolish and bereft. I wasn’t able to sing the first Christmas carols of the season, or pay much attention to the sermon. Still, I’m glad I went. I was comforted by several of my friends in our small congregation and I remembered that one of the reasons I decided to start going to church two years ago, was to become part of a community. Mission accomplished.
This year, instead of the usual advent study class, we’re studying the origins of the Bible. My interest in this topic was intensified after reading The Da Vinci Code earlier this year. More about that later. Meanwhile, I’ve banished all depressing books from the premises. Instead I’m reading only happy, uplifting books through the end of the year. It is, after all, a season of joy. In the midst of grief and other problems, I’m trying to find some joy.
9:04:15 AM 
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