Life coach shares Interfaith Advent Calendar

For the last six years, Susie Weller, a life and spiritual coach, prepared an Interfaith Advent Calendar.

"I love the Advent season, and we celebrate from Thanksgiving through the New Year the spiritual significance of the season," she said. "I light a candle and start the morning using it for my quiet time alone or with my husband, Mark."

Retired after working 24 years with Community Colleges of Spokane in parenting and life skills education, she has prepared and shared the Advent calendar as a gift with friends, family, her church, Unity Center for Spiritual Growth in Coeur d'Alene and with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps regionally.

She now offers it for others who would like to use it for their daily practice during Advent.

"It follows Advent's four themes—hope, peace, joy and love—and adds a fourth week to Epiphany on service," she said. "It includes dates for Hanukkah, Bodhi Day, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Winter Solstice and Kwanzaa's seven principles."

Examples of reflections are: "Dec. 3: Sustain your hope by centering yourself in a quiet stillness," or "Dec 11: Model the peace and change you wish to see in others."

Susie brings insights to creating the calendar from her journey.

In 1976, she graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara in religion and communication. She then served as an apostolic volunteer with the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters teaching religion at a Catholic girls school in Minnesota. After she served with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (1978 to 1980) as campus minister at Seattle University, she worked with young adults with the Archdiocese of Seattle.

The calendar will be available online at thefigtree.org/2023adventcalendar.pdf

For information, call 499-1423 or email weller.susie@gmail.com.