Do you hear what I hear?
Having my birthday in Advent makes me wonder: What if Jesus had grown old and dealt with changes like hearing loss?
I was born two weeks before Jesus.
Since I had a December birthday, my mother worked hard to make sure it didn’t get lost in our Christmas celebration. She didn’t put up any decorations until December 13, the day after I was born. My father had some unexplained need for all of the decorations to come down on December 26, so Christmas didn’t last long at our house.
In my twenties I began to learn about Advent and the liturgical calendar, which changed the way I celebrated the season and how I thought about my birthday in the middle of it. That my birthday falls in the middle of this season of anticipation doesn’t make it feel lost to me. As I wait for Christ’s birth in our time each year, I have a chance to reflect on what it means that I am still walking the planet.
