Advent Mystery and New Beginnings

As we think about and plan how we will spend Advent, it's good to search and find some new books that may be helpful in our Advent study. One of the possibilities, especially for families who have children and reading is a part of their family devotions, is this new book: All Creation Waits, The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings, written by Gayle Boss, illustrated by David G. Klein, and published by Paraclete Press.

In the northern hemisphere of the world we think of special ways of fasting, giving, and praying throughout our Advent time. Gayle Boss with her words shows that she is thinking of the animals, how they cope, and what they do, at such a time. Have you ever thought about how wild animals manage as they search for food and warmth and safety in the winter ahead? Perhaps not. Animals may "take in the threat of dark and cold, and they adapt in amazing and ingenious ways," Boss says. And, the animals say, in their way: "the dark is not an end, but a door. This is the way a new beginning comes." Boss believes the animals can be our companions and guides. She writes "They can be to us "a book about God..."a word of God, the God who comes, even in the darkest season, to bring us a new beginning."

David Klein's illustrations are beautiful and interesting. Children who hear the stories and see the sketches will be captured and have many "why," "why," "why," questions. Here are the animals as depicted and explained. They are: painted turtle, muskrat, black bear, chickadee, whitetail deer, honey bee, chipmunk, cottontail, common loon, wood frog, raccoon, little brown bat, opossum, wild turkey, common garter snake, woodchuck, striped skunk, porcupine, common Eastern firefly, meadow vole, Eastern fox squirrel, red fox, northern cardinal, lake trout. Followed on Christmas Day with a meditation on Jesus, the Christ. "For the animals, their hope, and the hope of all that breathes, is that human ones abandon themselves to the One Great Love. For that, all creation waits."

Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks