The Mind of a Child

Leslie Corbell: [00:00:00] Hello, I'm Leslie Dudley Corbell. And I'm Diane Doucette Matthews, welcome to the Mind of a Child.

Diane Matthews: We are gonna talk about advent today, and we're just gonna explore what it really, really means and really what that means to live that out in our everyday practical

Leslie Corbell: life.

Diane Matthews: Okay, so Leslie, how do you celebrate and enjoy Advent?

Leslie Corbell: I live in a perpetual state of advent. I look forward to this time of year. All year long.

Diane Matthews: Mm.

Leslie Corbell: It might be July and the Christmas ornaments come out at Hobby Lobby and I'll be the one taking selfies with the ribbon and sending them to my daughter. There's something about the anticipation and the joy and the hope of advent and the coming of Christ that I long for it all year long and can't wait for it.

Once Advent is done, I'm ready to start it over again. [00:01:00] And so I think that's what the idea I wanna convey is advent is something we experience. All year.

Diane Matthews: Hmm.

Leslie Corbell: And advent itself, this small portion of time is a time for us to really focus in and take to heart the meaning of Advent so that it will flow into the rest of our lives, the rest of the year.

That's

Diane Matthews: great. And I wish, you know, I lived like that every day. That would be wonderful. But when do you decorate for Christmas and when do you, when do you put everything up and when do you

Leslie Corbell: take everything down? It takes me a week to decorate, and I start November 1st.

Diane Matthews: Okay. So by

Leslie Corbell: the end of the first week of November, I have my decorations up and that's because, for me, Thanksgiving is just part of this advent, this Christmas season that's coming together with family.

So yes, I put mine up first week of November. And then when do you take it down? Uh, well, okay, there's two parts. So I take down the Christmas decorations, like Santas and things like that, end [00:02:00] of January.

Diane Matthews: Okay.

Leslie Corbell: But I leave the lights and the trees up until the end of February because for me, it's still that bleak midwinter.

And bringing the light of Christ into that dark, cold, dreary time.

Diane Matthews: I remember when I first was spending time with you and I realized that, I thought, oh, I just love the tradition that you have of that and just the joy that you have through Advent. Well, you know, I have to share my story because it's quite opposite of that, or it used to be for sure.

Now, this is when my kids were younger. I would really be on the brink of tears and feeling overwhelmed and. Kind of angry, and I know now I can look back and see. I was doing too much. I was shopping for two sets of grandparents, the great grandparents, my four kids. I was decorating the whole house and then the parties and the programs at schools and preschools, you know.

I was just mad. I [00:03:00] remember even sitting at quite a few Christmas Eve services just on the verge of tears. Again, disappointed and mad, and I was mad at myself because I couldn't control the chaos. I had fell prey to culture, just, you know, sweeping me off my feet and just telling me lies and me believing it.

So, yeah, I did not enjoy Advent or Christmas. Total exhaustion.

Leslie Corbell: Well, and I hear you saying it sounds like it was a real burden to you. Definitely. This time of year was definitely that idea that you had to control things.

Diane Matthews: I felt like I did. Yeah.

Leslie Corbell: To meet someone's expectations.

Diane Matthews: Mm-hmm. Maybe perhaps my own.

I'm sure I created them. And you know, when I think about it, I'm sure there was a lot of fear there. You know, fear that I was gonna disappoint people, fear that I was gonna let my kids down. Fear I was gonna let my husband down, you know, I built this. These lies. I listened to these lies and I was living those and therefore I was stressed, worried, using the [00:04:00] word again.

Exhausted. Yeah. You know,

Leslie Corbell: I think you're speaking into something that many people may feel, this idea of control and this idea of fear. This idea that I'm responsible for everything. Mm-hmm.

Diane Matthews: Now, God showed me a lot through that. One thing was I felt like I was so busy I didn't have time to spend my time with him, and I would just, you know, take that off my daily routine.

And so that was the biggest lie I was believing because when I spend time with him, he multiplies my time and he shaves off my to-do list to make, you know, to help me get through things. So that was like the biggest thing that, that I was doing wrong. If you could say that wrong, because now I just look forward to spending time with him.

'cause I know he just puts my perspective in order.

Leslie Corbell: Perspective is everything. Yeah. I'm gonna touch on that because when we think about living in Advent where we're living in expectation and hope of something. Mm-hmm. Something else and what God has planned for us. Right. And [00:05:00] so when we can take that idea that living in one foot in the here and one foot in the not yet.

Mm-hmm. What's to come, right? I think that eternal perspective gives us. Such a sense of security and confidence. We don't have to be in control of things.

Diane Matthews: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Corbell: Because we know that we can live in our everyday practical story with joy and hope. Mm-hmm. And peace because we know the rest of the story because of

Diane Matthews: Christ.

Yeah. And we really can't be in control. Mm-hmm. But you know, we can try and it just makes miserable and burdens us. Yeah. And burdensome. So I thought it would be good today. Fun today to go through the advent wreath, a little bit of history and what it means, but before we do that, did you do the advent

Leslie Corbell: wreath growing up at all?

I did not. And so I'm looking forward to hearing you talk about it, because I know that you and your family probably did.

Diane Matthews: Yeah, we did. And even my husband and my mom always had one. We didn't light it and read the devotionals every day, but we would light it like right before Christmas. So yeah, it was always a part of my life.

So a little bit about the [00:06:00] wreath. The green evergreen in a circle. The evergreen means everlasting life and the circle means, you know, enduring love forever. The candles, most people see, think four candles, but it's really five. Three are purple one's pink one's white purple. There are different meanings, but what I was raised to believe that it was more, uh, kingship and royalty.

That was the purple color in the red is for joy. Which is celebration and the joys, the, I think it's the third week and it's because Christ, you know, the coming is soon, and then the white candles, that's Christ and it's white because of purity, holiness, or even victory because we have victory in Christ.

So there's so much meaning there. And symbolism, I've always loved it, even if we didn't, you know, light the candles and read the devotional every night, it was a centerpiece. Well, let's talk about some of the

Leslie Corbell: scriptures that might be read with the advent, Ken, because again, this is all about not just [00:07:00] doing something, but really taking the meaning of advent to heart.

Mm-hmm. So that, again, out of it can be an outpouring of love, hope, peace and joy for you. And overflow. Overflow, what we were saying. Yeah. So again, those are hope, peace, joy, and love. And let's talk about hope so. I think it's so important to look back at the Old Testament and all the prophecies about Christ, and so we're gonna do a lot of verses from the Old Testament so you can share them with your children.

The hope we have, you know, Isaiah wrote so many prophecies and he was called to prophesy in 7 42 bc So in Romans, now that is a New Testament verse, but in Romans, Paul quotes Isaiah and he's referring back to Isaiah 11, one through 10. The root of Jesse will spring up. One who will arise rule over the nations in him.

The Gentiles will hope. I love that. So there's our hope in in Christ. That's right. Let's talk

Diane Matthews: a little bit about the root of Jesse. Okay. So [00:08:00] Jesse, the father of David, was the remnant in a hopeless world. He was the hope. And so we had this little line of Jesse coming through to David, and then we know Jesus was born from that line, that lineage.

Leslie Corbell: Yeah. Beautiful. And that Isaiah nine, two, and six, he goes on to say, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Mm. Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness for, to us, a child is born to us. A sun is given on them, has

Diane Matthews: light shown. We're gonna move on to the peace candle, which is also referred to as the Bethlehem Candle.

The first scripture I'm gonna read is from Micah five, two, and Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah, but you o Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come from me, one who will be ruler over Israel. Whose origins are from old, from ancient times. And then I'm not gonna read all of [00:09:00] this, but just for reference, Isaiah 11, one through nine, listen to this picture of peace.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb. The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf, and the lion will lay down. The little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear will graze together. Their young will lay down together. Now, listen to this one. The nursing child shall play over the hole of a cobra, and the ween child shall put his hand on the ER's den.

I mean, that's peace going on in the land. I think they're referring to the new heavens and the new Earth, but that's the candle of peace. So joy,

Leslie Corbell: which is the shepherd candle. And you said that was the a pink candle? Mm-hmm. You know, we look back to Isaiah again for that. Isaiah nine, three through four, six through seven.

You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They [00:10:00] rejoice before you, as with joy at the harvest as they are glad when they divide the spoil for the yoke of his burden. And the staff were his shoulder. The rod of his oppressor you have broken is on the day of Midian. For unto us, A child is born to us, a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful counselor.

Mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of peace of the increase of his government and of peace. There will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

I mean, there's so much joy there. The naming of him stating it with such conviction and such hope. Mm-hmm. There is so much joy in that for me.

Diane Matthews: Mm-hmm. And then the candle of love, the angel candle, which we go back to the purple one. [00:11:00] I'm gonna read outta Isaiah, also. Isaiah seven, verse 10. Again, the Lord spoke to Ahaz and he said, hear then oh House of David.

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear son and shall call the name Emmanuel and we know Emmanuel is God with us. That's love that God sent his son to be with us and we know he's with us. Now I think about

Leslie Corbell: unchanging love. It's immutable. Mm-hmm. It does not matter what happens, what we do.

That love for us will not change.

Diane Matthews: Will not move. Yeah. And I've, I've said this many times. Beth Moore said this years and years and years ago, once we're his child, we cannot be bad enough for him to disown us. Mm-hmm. We are his forever. So how about the Christ candle? Yes, the big white one. In the middle.

The verse that we chose to read is Isaiah one 18. Christ washes our [00:12:00] sins away and makes us white as snow.

Leslie Corbell: And I think you had a song that you wanted to talk about here that was meaningful to you. Yeah, because

Diane Matthews: we talked about perspective and I think if we have a proper perspective, which. You know, my story obviously showed that I did not have a proper perspective.

And you know, with an audience out there, of all the people that listen, there's gonna be some people that may not have a right perspective. So I heard this song, and it's by Shane and Shane, and it says, Jesus Christ has won. I can face tomorrow. I'm fighting a battle that you have already won. No matter what comes my way, I will overcome.

I don't know what you're doing. I know what you have done. I'm fighting a battle that you have already won. There's mercy in the waiting manna for today. You are my hope and stay when the sea is raging. Your spirit is my help. You will fix my eyes on Jesus [00:13:00] Christ. I'm fighting a battle that you have already won.

I know how the story ends. We will be with you again. You're my savior, my defense. I don't have to be afraid. No more fear in life or death. I know how the story ends. Hmm. That's good news. That is

Leslie Corbell: good news. And I know when we were talking about this episode and what we were gonna, what truth we wanted to get out there, that was something that came to us, is that knowing we know how the story ends.

Mm-hmm. It's God's story. We know how it ends. We can live our story each day. With confidence and with hope, because we know how it ends. And so talking about fear though, you know what? Why is it that we don't always live in that knowledge? I.

Diane Matthews: That's a great question. I think we have some reasons here, but before that, the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But he came, Jesus came that we may have [00:14:00] life abundantly. So we know that he wants us to have abundant life, but there's so many things out there that are pulling on us to take that away from us.

So what are some fears? Well here,

Leslie Corbell: I'm just gonna give you some statistics

Diane Matthews: from a Gallup poll. Okay. How's that? Okay, let's do the statistics first and then we'll elaborate.

Leslie Corbell: Just 2% of parents say that they rarely or never worry about their child, just so 98%

Diane Matthews: of the people out there, parents, yes. Worry, which is a form of fear.

Leslie Corbell: Mm-hmm.

Diane Matthews: So

Leslie Corbell: the leading sources of parents worry include their child's plans for the future, and that was 42%. The child's mental health, 40%. Their experiences at school. 40% physical safety, 40% now. I think that would be higher. Yes, definitely. I'm surprised that one's not higher. Yeah. And then experiences on social media, and I would think that would been, oh, 39%.

Yeah,

Diane Matthews: that's definitely higher. Yeah. We know that's a lot. Yeah, that's a lot there. But I'm wondering who they asked.

Leslie Corbell: Did they ask the mom or the dad? They, well, [00:15:00] that was something else the research pointed out was moms have a tendency to be more fearful than the father, that they worry more. Yeah. Than a father.

Diane Matthews: Women by nature are more emotional and more, uh, nurturing and thinking about their children a little bit more so that it really

Leslie Corbell: draws into that idea of control. I mean, will they be in the right friend group? Will they do well at school? Will they, I. Be a Christian, will they get to know God? Will they know Jesus Christ?

Will they accept him as their savior? We can start worrying about all sorts of things. There's so

Diane Matthews: we can create worry.

Leslie Corbell: There begins to be that point is where do you draw the line? That's right. Where do you depend on God and give that over that fear and that control over. Yeah.

Diane Matthews: I mean, you wanna be conscientious and thoughtful and make plans and think through things and, mm-hmm.

And be safe. But where does it go to being worried and paranoid almost. Do not Fear is mentioned in the Bible 365 times, and we've mentioned this before because I think it's just God has every detail. Mm-hmm. He

Leslie Corbell: knew we would be afraid.

Diane Matthews: Yeah. It's not [00:16:00] when we're gonna be afraid. We are going to be afraid about

Leslie Corbell: different things.

And I think he knew from the fall mm-hmm. That in our desire to control everything. Hmm. And take Are you talking it to me? I'm talking to all of us. Okay. Okay. But in our desire to control things and be our own God Yeah. That we would take our eyes off of him and off of Christ and focus only on the things that we.

We think are in our control that we can manage. Okay. Things

Diane Matthews: that we can see. Yeah. Let me read that scripture. Colossians three, two. Set your minds on things above, not on the things on earth. Mm, yep. It's hard to do.

Leslie Corbell: So Advent is a perfect time to begin to experience that gets us that eternal perspective.

Diane Matthews: You have a quote, it's not an exact quote because I've changed it a little bit to work for this, but they're talking about Christian endurance, and I think if we wanna endure in this world, because this world, it's tough, [00:17:00] it's hard, you know it, there's challenges. Christian endurance is based on the idea that there's another life.

I mean, we we're talking about heaven here. We're talking about eternal things. So Christian Endurance is based on the idea that there's another life heaven, which is eternal, and for which this world is the preparation. The coming world is so glorious and weighty with so much honor that it is worth making sacrifices now to trust and obey God so that we can receive glory.

Honor and immortality and eternity.

Leslie Corbell: How can we take all of this that we're talking about? Put it into our parenting.

Diane Matthews: Hmm.

Leslie Corbell: What would that look

Diane Matthews: like? I think that's a big question. It's gonna overflow. I mean, if we really hide it in our hearts, it's going to overflow into our daily lives for sure. But how can we practically do that?

So if we

Leslie Corbell: take those four [00:18:00] pillars of Advent mm-hmm. Of the advent season and five, I mean the Christ. Yes. Christ. Mm-hmm. So the five pillars of Advent Hope would give us. Purpose in making Godly choices, right, as a parent. Mm-hmm. It gives us a place to go and know that we don't really have control over the outcome of each decision, but we can go, we can pray about it, we can seek wise counsel and we can have hope.

We know that God has the rest of the story. He is in control and sovereign over everything that we do because he knows the rest of the story.

Diane Matthews: That's right. That's that perspective. Mm-hmm.

Leslie Corbell: That's that perspective. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, do you really believe and have you taken to heart for in this hope we were saved.

Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees. But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Patience. And that's Romans 8 24, 25. And so are we living each day in that hope

Diane Matthews: this would be a great quiet time or just time to sit back with your journal and go through [00:19:00] each one of these and pray about it and, and think through this, this scripture.

And the next is peace. Are we allowing ourselves to be calm in the midst of a storm? We can't do that in and of ourselves. We need the Holy Spirit, but he's provided all that peace. I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.

That's what he says to us. Do not be afraid. John 1427,

Leslie Corbell: and I would say as a parent walking every day. There's opportunities for storms. Storms come up, and to be able to experience that peace in the midst of it.

Diane Matthews: And the kids watch. Yeah. How are they gonna respond?

Leslie Corbell: And if we look at love, I mean, the love of the father motivates us every day to freely walk on the spirit and that love that we receive from him.

Just another reminder of the outpouring. And if we don't experience that love truly experiencing that love every day, then [00:20:00] things that we're called to do can seem burdensome because we're not accepting his love. So we can't pour out love during that day.

Diane Matthews: And you know, there's so much security in knowing that we're left, you know, we could do a whole episode on being loved.

And what kind of. Action comes outta that. Mm-hmm. Just being confident in God's love, joy. I love the verse, Nehemiah eight 10, the joy of the Lord is our strength, and it really is because we're taking our eyes off of the circumstance and we're putting it on the Lord and it gives us strength.

Leslie Corbell: Yeah. And of course, Christ.

Having been saved, knowing Christ is your savior, we, we can even think about Galatians five, one. It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. That's right. So you're free to walk in his love and joy and peace. Hope every day. That's right. And not be held captive. So it's just, you are free. You are free.

And I think that's [00:21:00] just, um, such a gift. An encouragement. It's a gift. It's a gift. It's an encouragement. So do you really believe, yeah. Are you really walking?

You know, we talked about how advent, the time of advent is a wonderful time to practice these truths

Diane Matthews: mm-hmm. For

Leslie Corbell: you and for your children. And so we wanna talk about some practical and fun ways to teach your children about Advent.

Diane Matthews: Yeah. And not just to add one more thing to your list. But just for fun little activities that you can just pick one.

I mean, we're gonna list quite a few, but you know, just if one just pops up and comes back into your head, you can just add it later on. But don't try to do more than one or two. You know, I'll overwhelm you. Let's start with the Advent calendar. So I know we've seen Advent Calendars, Walmart and Costco and Hobby Lot.

Any store you see a, uh, an advent calendar, but it's really easy to make your own, you [00:22:00] know, just put construction paper together and behind each one just put a little scripture like God is love and I, I listed some here. He hears our prayers. Patience is a virtue love one another. Help your enemies be kind, or God's word is like honey.

And you could draw like a little, a honeypot. You could be very creative. So fun to do. Advent calendars. We had those growing up too.

Leslie Corbell: The nativity set is one of my most favorite things about Christmas and putting that out. And the children love playing with that growing up. And so putting it out at Advent, at the beginning of Advent and reading these verses each week.

Diane Matthews: Mm-hmm. So.

Leslie Corbell: You might set up the little town of Bethlehem with the Mica verse at the very beginning of Advent, but not put Mary and Joseph there yet 'cause they're not there yet. So read the story of Luke and start out with Mary and Joseph. They may be in the bedroom, they may be in one of the children's rooms.

The idea would be that through the month of Advent or through the weeks of Advent. You would read a [00:23:00] different verse every week and slowly move Marian Joseph towards Bethlehem.

Diane Matthews: I think that is a great idea. I'm the same way with nativity scenes. I have one in almost every room, but I always had one for the kids to just handle and play with all the time.

It was wooden or plastic or whatever that they could just handle and and play with all the time. But I love that idea. That is so cool that they're traveling. Yes, that's a great one.

Leslie Corbell: And baby Jesus is definitely some. We would put him on a shelf with some books and an angel. Oh, and he would be staying there until Christmas

Diane Matthews: Eve.

Yeah. Oh boy. Your kids were much more cooperative than mine. Another one that we thought of was, of course, the advent, uh, devotionals with the wreath and light the candle. And every time you do it, light all the candles. You know, kids just love it. Let them light the candles.

Leslie Corbell: Now, you know I love theater. Oh yeah.

And how much fun I had like, oh my goodness. So when I was little, every Christmas Eve, what we would do and, and my kids didn't do this as much, but this is [00:24:00] coming from my childhood. My dad was a hunter and fisher, and so he had those really big flashlights that could spotlight things if you wanted go frog gigging or something, I guess.

Yeah. But we would shine that big hunter's flashlight on this one little area in the room. I would be Mary. Oh, I love it. My cousin, my cousin would be Joseph, would get a little baby doll for Jesus, and we would. My brother would read the story and we would act out walking to Bethlehem. Oh my

Diane Matthews: goodness.

That's good. But that was, that was good too. So

Leslie Corbell: yes, acting out the story, letting the children read the story as they were older. Now

Diane Matthews: we do that, but I know a lot of families who have the costumes and they dress up in the costumes and act all out. That's a great one.

Leslie Corbell: I probably just had a pillowcase on my head.

Yeah. Or something like that. I don't think I had a costume.

Diane Matthews: So you had one about wrapping books.

Leslie Corbell: Now what we do is, and this continued even to this day, my son came and my children came over for supper last night, and his job is to bring up all the children's books about Christmas that we have and put them in this certain bookcase.

Yes. And so he did that last night, but we would [00:25:00] read different ones and just go through our stack.

Diane Matthews: Mm-hmm.

Leslie Corbell: Each night, all the way to Christmas. I have seen some people wrap them and open them every year. New now. I like that idea. The new one. Yes. It's kinda of like

Diane Matthews: something special.

Leslie Corbell: Yes. Yes. And I think that's a great thing to do.

I can't say that I ever actually did that, but

Diane Matthews: Yeah. And then read the Christmas carols. Yes. And then sing them. Oh yes. 'cause there's so many rich words with Hank's family. We went Christmas Carol in the neighborhoods. I love doing that.

Leslie Corbell: That is fun. Very special thing to do. We'd like to encourage you to try one of these activities for advent.

Mm-hmm. And then also think about these activities going forward through 2025. You know, what will you do if you can just add 1%? Yes. Just a 1%. What's something you can do with your children? Because it's all about teaching them. Mm-hmm. It's all about experiencing this. You wanna teach them about Christ.

We can parent with the [00:26:00] confidence because God has accomplished so much in Jesus Christ for us. Yes. So we have those accomplishments to parent with. We can parent with confidence. Mm-hmm. 'cause we have been

Diane Matthews: given hope, joy, peace, love, love all that. And much, much more. Lord, keep our eyes on Jesus. And when we falter, which we all will do, please help us, uh, to get them back on you.

You are able to keep us all safe and teach us this advent season, expand our hope, our peace, our joy, and our love, that we will be secure in knowing that it's all a gift from you. And it's in your precious name we pray. Amen.

Leslie Corbell: Thanks for listening. Check out our Instagram at the Mind of a Child Pod, or you can email us at the Mind of a Child podcast@gmail.com.