Each day, a special Advent-themed Daily Jolt, with an opportunity for reflection and a microChallenge. Some of the reflections come from unlikely sources, and the challenges help you to take an action, usually a small one, based on the reflection.

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• judy chavez

  I wish I could say I had given up a meal by choice, sadly it was only by chance. I was going to school in France and a friend of mine there and I decided to go to Spain for Christmas. On Christmas eve we traveled to Granada from Barcelona which was a long train trip at that time. We arrived early evening in Granada and were looking forward to a good meal as we had only had a small snack on the train. We started walking down the streets and noticed there was no one else on the streets and ALL the shops and restaurants were closed! Neither one of us were very religious then and it never occured to us this was a very holy time in Spain–a Catholic country–we, after all, were on holiday! We went to bed hungry dreaming of our families at home and their Christmas meals! Of course the next day we knew we were doomed as it finally dawned on us the significance of all this inactivity. But a Christmas miracle of sorts occurred for us when my friend remembered she had a small package of hardboiled eggs in her backpack. How long had they been there? We did not know or care and savored each bite of our Christmas meal. We did not get sick and survived to eat another day. I wish I could remember any epiphanies I may have had, but nothing comes to mind. I never forgot the strange, foodless Christmas, but I haven’t really thought about it much until your question brought it to mind I will think this may be a fine meditation for me during the advent season.