“I don’t have a snack today because my mom didn’t have money to buy me anything,” she says with a brave smile. She tries her best to sound nonchalant about the fact that while the other kids eat their cookies and fruit, she won’t have anything to munch on.

I think about my overstuffed shelves jammed with after-school treats for my kids. My “big problem” is keeping the snacks organized in cute storage containers for the mind-bogglingly varied types of cookies, chips, protein bars, nuts, and dry fruits for my always-hungry-for-junk-food teenagers. My problem has never been that I didn’t have money to buy them snacks.

But 5-year-old Kiara (name changed) and her mom have dealt with problems that I don’t have the faintest idea about.

Kiara and her mom live in a shelter home (in India) for women who have survived abuse. Many of them have been violently assaulted by their husbands, thrown out of their homes, or have fled for their lives. But going by their warm smiles and their cheerful hi’s you’d never guess that they may be emotionally exhausted and battle weary.

I tutor Kiara and four other munchkins at the shelter home once a week. When it’s time for a break, the little ones grab the snack boxes that their moms pack for them and sit in a circle on the floor. But that one day, there was no snack for the spunky little girl.

But here’s what broke me. At five years old, Kiara didn’t throw a fit. She didn’t make a fuss. She didn’t have a pity party. She didn’t even ask her little friends if they could share their snacks with her. At five years old, Kiara empathized with her mom’s dilemma. She understood. She loved her mama enough to pretend that she was completely and totally okay with no snack that day.

When I told the kids I would bring juice and apples for them the following week, Kiara’s eyes lit up.

“Apples!” she said with a wide grin as if I promised to take her to Disney Land. She was thrilled to know that a whole seven days from then, she would get apples for a snack.

What an incredibly poignant lesson in contentment and cheerfulness! That five-year-old didn’t dwell on what she didn’t have. Instead, she focussed on what she did — her mama’s love and the fact that she would get her favorite fruit the following week.

So often, I have a laundry list of things I want from God. I focus on what I don’t have. I fall into the trap of believing I can’t be content unless I have that one thing, that answer, that breakthrough. But the truth is our Heavenly Father knows our needs. And He offers us His peace and contentment even in the midst of questions, uncertainties, delays, and disappointments.

Kiara and her mom are happy in the home but this is a transition phase for them. They have been rescued from the terrible situation they were in — but they have more to look forward to as they will one day live independently. Yet in this in-between season, they are fully engaged in what they do. Kiara’s mom is learning to bake so she can make some money. As for Kiara? Her bright eyes sparkle whether she is learning addition or spelling or singing songs.

As we enter the Advent season, can we learn to be deeply content in Christ and fully engaged in what He has called us to? Advent is the in-between season of looking forward to the arrival of the Lord. We live in the afterglow of the God who made His dwelling among us and we wait in anticipation for the return of the King. This earth is our temporary shelter home. We have been rescued — but we have much to look forward to.

My Advent devotional, Making Space, helps us keep our focus where it should be this Christmas. You can follow it on YouVersion here or you can download it as a PDF to your device here.

While we wait for His return, let’s also make room in our lives for Him and the things that are important to Him.

Click here to follow Making Space, An Advent Devotional, on YouVersion

Click here to download the PDF of Making Space, An Advent Devotional to your device

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