In preparation for the advent and Christmas season, the praise team  recently had a mini-retreat after church.  In addition to much music (naturally), the afternoon included sharing a meal together, a devotional time and an activity to put us in that expectant "watching and waiting" mode that characterizes advent.  The idea was to walk around the church property and look for letters to spell out the four advent themes----hope, peace, joy and love.

 

Above is the result for "joy" (in case you couldn't qutie make it out ;). 

 

As Christmas approaches, let's all keep our eyes wide open, to see what God is doing in and around us.  There is beauty and, yes, hope, joy, peace, and love, at just about every turn.  We simply need to ask God to open our eyes to see it.