Friday Five Advent Longings

Sally is very thoughtful this week, and shares this lovely Friday Five:
"Imagine a complex, multi-cultural society that annually holds an elaborate winter festival, one that lasts not simply a few days, but several weeks. This great festival celebrates the birth of the Lord and Saviour of the world, the prince of peace, a man who is divine. People mark the festival with great abundance- feasting, drinking and gift giving....." (Richard Horsley- The Liberation of Christmas)
The passage goes on, recounting the decorations that are hung, and the songs and dances that accompany the festival, how the economy booms and philanthropic acts abound....
But this is not Christmas- this is a Roman festival in celebration of the Emperor....This is the world that Jesus was born into! The world where the early Christians would ask "Who is your Saviour the Emperor or Christ?"
And yet our shops and stores and often our lives are caught up in a world that looks very much like the one of ancient Rome, where we worship at the shrine of consumerism....
Advent on the other hand calls us into the darkness, a time of quiet preparation, a time of waiting, and re-discovering the wonder of the knowledge that God is with us. Advent's call is to simplicity and not abundance, a time when we wait for glorious light of God to come again...
Christ is with us at this time of advent, in the darkness, and Christ is coming with his light- not the light of the shopping centre, but the light of love and truth and beauty.
What do you long for this advent? What are your hopes and dreams for the future? What is your prayer today?
In the vein of simplicity I ask you to list five advent longings....

I'm a natural longer and hoper (despite a recent lapse), so the hard part for me might be limiting it to five... or it might be sharing the ones that I don't want to jinx by naming them out loud! My husband and I do this crazy thing where every New Year's Day we have a Visioning Date, and just recented we've added Planning Dates every two months to evaluate, strategize, and change course when needed. I really look forward to these, and can hardly wait for our Visioning Date this year, because it seems like there are so many possibilities in front of us. Here's a little start of my longings:

1. More closeness with the gorgeous Mr. M. He's quite lovely, and I can be a bit skittish.
2. I'd like to find a new church home.
3. I want to take time to just sit and hold hands with God more.
4. New bits of family have just gotten in touch. I'm scared, but I think I'd like to (sloooooowly) get to know them a little better.
5. Don't we all need a little mystery? ;)