All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings

*All Creation Waits* is a beautifully crafted book that offers a unique and reflective journey through the season of Advent. Each chapter focuses on a different animal, exploring how it prepares for and endures the winter. The author, Gayle Boss, writes with deep reverence for the natural world, weaving in spiritual insights that make this more than just a nature book—it’s a meditation on the themes of waiting, survival, and hope.The illustrations are equally captivating, complementing the text with a quiet, contemplative beauty. The way the author connects the rhythms of the natural world to the spiritual preparation of Advent is both original and profoundly moving. It’s a book that invites you to slow down, observe, and reflect on the ways all creatures prepare for the darkest time of the year, while holding on to the promise of light and renewal.*All Creation Waits* is perfect for anyone looking to deepen their Advent experience or simply reconnect with nature in a meaningful way. It’s a book that you’ll want to revisit year after year, finding new layers of meaning each time. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a thoughtful and soul-nourishing read.

This book is such a gift and I am so thankful to be reading it. I think this book goes beyond a traditional advent book in that it is really a book that speaks to anyone who is going through or has gone through a time of winter in their own lives, it speaks of why we need a Christ. The animals have so much to teach us. I feel that God is really using this book in my life and I have sent copies to many of my friends.This book is appropriate for children but is not a children's book, I am doing the readings with my own children (ages 9,12 and 14) and they are engaged with the material but the book is very engaging and illustrative for adults. The book is incredibly well researched(as someone who is interested in the natural world and science I have learned a lot reading this book), beautifully written and speaks of great spiritual truths that cross generational and developmental divides.The artwork is amazing, the prose is engaging and beautifully written and it warms my heart and brings me closer to God. I feel this book can speak to so many people and it is really a great gift. Even if it is past "advent" in terms of the liturgical year this is an excellent book to get for cold winter days or for people who are grieving or struggling. I know I will come back to it again and again.

Gayle Boss' book for advent - All Creation Waits - takes the winter survival stories of twenty-four woodland creatures and makes poetry of their small tales. The white-tail deer, lake trout, chipmunk, honey bee, and common loon are among the beings that inspire Boss' deeply spiritual and natural prose. Beginning December 1 and ending December 25 with Jesus, The Christ, the book is made for slow, thoughtful reading and reflection, like savoring a complexly flavored cup of coffee one sip at a time. Gorgeous woodcut illustrations of each creature enhance the sensibility of the book and help make it perfect for young children as well as adults.Boss began years ago, when her children were small, to tell them about wintering creatures instead of using commercial Advent calendars that often seem to celebrate Christmas without allowing for the waiting and deepening of Advent. Perhaps because of this family history and certainly because of the way her own spirituality is rooted in the natural world, Boss has a way of making these meditations on North American animals, insects, and fish seem an obvious alternative to our culture's over-done Christmas. A welcome relief from a shopping and partying season that now lasts from Halloween to January 1 and emphasizes material consumption and manic joy.One does not have to be Christian to appreciate this book. With its focus on nature's waiting through the cold, All Creation Waits brings us around to season's flow, energy's ebb. And there are many of us who are sad when the sun is low and the days short. This books offers a new perspective on what that means.Beautifully written and illustrated, this book will become a treasured part of you and your family's winter life.

I adore this book and it's so sweet to incorporate into an advent/xmas/December holiday tradition. I love learning about the animals and sharing the sweet stories with my friend and family. I noticed, however, that the kindle version was recently updated and they made it more Bible-centric. Inherently I don't think this is bad, but I really appreciated this book since it wasn't very religious and I think is a great holiday-go to that is nature-based but still incorporates some spiritual lessons of survival and hope. I would recommend the print version since I don't think that has been updated, and the art is really fantastic so it's nice to look at on paper.

I opted for the "children's" version for gifts and returned this one. This would be appropriate for a teen or even an adult, I am thinking.

This book was an incredible Advent journey. Unforgettable Advent readings. Thank you Gayle

Love this beautiful Lent book which focuses on different animals as the part of creation that also sleeps in winter and rises in spring. Terrific ink drawings and the prose is exquisite.

This is an excellent book and perfect for Advent.

This book of short reflections during the long days of December is a real gem. It gives us the reminder we need that we all live within the rhythms of nature. The author reminds us of this by considering the lives of animals we live among. A beautiful way to feel our connection to all that is.

Beautifully written observations of animals in the northern hemisphere as they prepare for the long winter months, one animal for each day of the Advent season. Accompanied by exquisite drawings.

A beautifully written exploration of the ways in which an array of creatures survive the winter, and we can learn from every one, in our spiritual and every day life. I found it especially meaningful to read this during the Covid pandemic when we are so in need of hope and encouragement. Pure prose poetry.

Nicely written. Interesting short glimpses of the animal world falling asleep for the winter.