Pam King: I’m Dr. Pam King, and you’re listening to With & For, a podcast that explores the depths of psychological science and spiritual wisdom to offer practical guidance towards spiritual health, wholeness, and thriving on purpose.
Jill Westbrook: Hello friends. I’m Jill Westbrook and welcome to With & For. As we prepare for the launch of season three, we’re releasing a special holiday season episode for each Sunday during Advent.
As you may know, Advent is a season of hopeful waiting and expectation that proceeds the glory and joy of Christmas. So every Sunday morning, we’ll be releasing a reflection from Pam King, focusing on the four stages of Advent: hope, peace, joy, and love.
The Advent theme this year focuses on our longings. For each Advent virtue, Dr. Pam King will help you quiet yourself and mindfully become aware of what you’re longing for. During this season, she’ll ask you to reflect on any changes you might need to make to align your life toward more hope, peace, joy, and love.
In this episode, Dr. King reflects on the meaning of hope and walks us through a meditative exercise to appreciate and cultivate hope in our lives. Enjoy.
Pam King: Welcome to the first week of Advent as we consider longing and hope. As we begin, find a place where you are comfortable and safe. Settle in. Perhaps close your eyes, be at home with yourself and with God. Become aware of how you are in this moment, knowing that God welcomes you just as you are. Please join me in three slow breaths, one long inhale through your nose, and slowly exhale through your mouth.
Inhale
and exhale,
and inhale
and exhale.
Consider hope. Are you feeling hopeful right now? Maybe, maybe not. If so, what are you hopeful about?
As you consider hope, let it filter down from your mind into your body. Become aware of feeling hope throughout your body. And if you aren’t feeling hopeful, how does that show up in your body?
Do you feel hope in a particular place or places? And what does it feel like? Or perhaps look like. What sensations accompany hope for you right now? Do you feel lightness, warmth, burning, perhaps weight, any aching, aching of anticipation or perhaps of fear and disappointment?
Now with your body attuned to hope, what do the depths of your being suggest you hope for today?
Consider these and hold these hopes in your hands.
Consider God with you, gazing at you. With loving eyes. What do you imagine that God hopes for you this Advent?
Imagine God with you holding all these hopes in your hands with you. How do these hopes align with how your day or week is planned?
With this in mind, consider which hopes God may be inviting you to hold onto; which might God be suggesting you set down.
How do these hopes reflect what you are most longing for this advent, and how might you align your day and week to these hopes?
What might need to change? What definitely stays.
Ask God for what you need to pursue these hopes this Advent.
Let us close in prayer. God of hope. Anchor my longing in you. This Advent, tether me to you and your hopes for my life and the hope of the coming of your son. Lord, give me the grace to offer your hope to others. Amen.
Wishing you the hope of Christ this week of Advent.
Jill Westbrook: We’re grateful you listened today. We’ll be back with our next Advent reflection on Peace next Sunday, December 7th. Until then, you can find a wealth of practices and resources on our website, thethrivecenter.org. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to With & For wherever you listen to podcasts.
See you then.
Pam King: With and For is a production of the Thrive Center at Fuller Theological Seminary. For more information, visit our website, thethrivecenter.org, where you’ll find all sorts of resources to support your pursuit of wholeness and a life of thriving on purpose. I am so grateful to the staff and fellows of the Thrive Center and our With & For podcast team.
Jill Westbrook is our senior director and producer Lauren Kim is our operations manager. Wren Juergensen is our editor and social media graphic designer. And special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy.
I’m your host, Dr. Pam King. Thank you for listening.
Episode Summary
Welcome to the 2025 Advent Meditation Journey.
If you are longing for a more meaningful Advent season, we invite you to join us in setting aside time each week to reflect, pray, and re-center. Advent is a season of preparation—a sacred invitation to slow down and open ourselves to the coming of Christ.
This is the first week of our Advent Meditation Journey. In this season of sacred waiting, we pause to reflect on longing and hope. Whether you’re feeling grounded or weary, hopeful or uncertain, you are welcome here. This brief meditation is an invitation to slow down, tune into your heart, and open yourself to the quiet stirrings of hope. Find a comfortable place, take a deep breath, and join me as we begin this Advent journey together—with honesty, stillness, and expectation.
We at the Thrive Center wish you a season filled with the hope, peace, joy, and love of Christ.
Sign up to join our Advent journey.
You’ll receive access to the Thrive Advent Calendar, offering simple daily practices and weekly guided meditations to move through the season with calm, intention, and spiritual depth.
Show Notes
About the Thrive Center
- Learn more at thethrivecenter.org.
- Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter
- Follow us on X @thrivecenter
- Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter
About Dr. Pam King
Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. Follow her @drpamking.
About With & For
- Host: Pam King
- Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
- Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
- Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen
Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.
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