“Hate doesn’t take you to all of the beautiful places that love does.” – Madonnna Badger

When I meditate on the advent story, there is not one character that speaks directly to me. Rather, there is a central theme of movement and beauty that is propagated by love. Whether it is God’s love for humanity, Joseph’s love for his wife, Mary’s love for her child, the shepherd’s love of their flock, or the magi’s love of the future, the story reveals that a journey always follows a revelation of adoration. On the surface, their individual treks may appear to be mundane—a father taking his family to his hometown for a census or shepherds keeping watch over their flock—yet, we find in the advent story that even in the normalcy of life, richness is abundant. And so it is with us. When we take a moment in stillness, we see that love has taken us to beautiful places and surrounded us with a deeply diverse community.