There’s a house across from the place I called home last year. From Thanksgiving on, every single day until Christmas, the owners add one new thing to their holiday light display – a vintage truck outlined in blue, a tree twinkling in red, wrapped gifts with glowing bows. It starts with a single item and grows until the whole yard is full of light. It’s not the biggest display in town, but I think it’s the best: it asks something of me and my time beyond a brief one-time glance. I slow down to enjoy the journey, and that makes the arrival of the final piece part of a larger whole.

What is true on a nearby lawn is true in the largest sense as well. This Advent, may the daily offerings of so many light your way to Bethlehem – one at a time, part of a larger, holy whole.