Each month, you’ll hear from one of us on what we’re reading and a little bit about the book. This month we’re sharing book notes on Hannah Anderson’s book, Heaven and Nature Sing. Enjoy!
Every year when the first hint of winter catches me by surprise, the days begin to get shorter and greyer, and the fires in our fireplace at home become more and more common, I begin my annual search for an Advent devotional. The few weeks before Christmas, commonly known as Advent, are my favorite weeks of the year, and the time I spend reflecting and meditating on the incarnation is essential to my cadence of celebrating the birth of Christ. My intentional slowing down during what can seem like the most chaotic season of the year is what grounds me to the deliberateness of Christ and keeps the reality that He came to dwell among His creation at the forefront of my mind. My focus on the newborn King during Advent reminds me to lift my eyes to a far grander story than my own. And in order to keep practicing that pattern of reflecting and remembering, I like to use an Advent devotional.
This year, I picked up Hannah Anderson’s new Advent devotional, Heaven and Nature Sing: 25 Advent Reflections to Bring Joy to the World. You might be familiar with Hannah Anderson as the author of books such as Humble Roots, All That’s Good, Made for More, and Turning of Days. Hannah’s self-proclaimed “goal is to encourage believers to think deeply and broadly about how the gospel transforms every area of life,” and she has done just that with this book.1
In her devotional, Hannah says that we sing the words “Joy to the world—the Lord has come!” every year, but do we truly know what it means that the Creator of the world came to His creation as a baby? Hannah encourages the reader “to prepare your heart for Christmas by considering both why Jesus came to earth in the first place and why we so desperately long for his return.”2 Her daily Advent reflections invite the reader into a fresh reading of the Christmas story that we know well, but these reflections focus on earthy things like snowflakes, trees, and swaddling clothes and how they reveal the glory of the newborn King. Hannah takes us on a journey from the first pages of Scripture to the last and helps us to recognize how creation sings the praise of our Creator King. Hannah tells the story of Christmas “through the lens of the natural world, to consider how not just we, but all of creation, waits for our Creator King.”3
Here are a few special features of Hannah’s devotional:
- It is divided into four parts: hope, faith, joy, and peace. Hannah structured her book so that if you want to keep with the traditional four weeks of Advent, you can read one section per week. You can also read one devotional per day, reading the 25 days starting with Day 1 on December 1 and ending with Day 25 on Christmas Day. Finally, you can also sit down and read larger sections in one sitting. This book is accessible in so many ways!
- It includes beautiful illustrations by Nathan Anderson, Hannah’s husband. Nathan’s distinctive artwork is throughout the devotional and provides the perfect stage for Hannah’s words to shine. From snowflakes to stars, seeds to serpents, the artwork accompanies and enhances each day’s reading with beautiful artistry.
- It makes the perfect gift. With a textured cover and beautiful interior, Hannah’s book is a perfect gift. This daily devotional is one that will be a classic for years to come.
- It is great for individual reading as well as for use as a family devotional. With some thought and interaction from parents, this devotional is a great resource for families to use during Advent. The devotions are digestible lengths (around five pages each) and full of creation narrative that is sure to keep the attention of both parents and children alike.
Hannah has given us a beautiful gift with this devotional. Her love for our Creator and her reflections to help draw our hearts nearer to His make this an Advent devotional that I will use again and again.
So, let heaven and nature sing! And not just at Christmas, but in our hearts all year long. Grab a copy of Heaven and Nature Sing here.
Whitney Walker Alexander serves as the marketing strategist for books for B&H Publishing, an imprint of Lifeway Christian Resources. Whitney is a pastor’s wife to her husband, Mat, and they live in Gadsden, Alabama, with their three children, Wattsie, Ford, and Jim, and their rambunctious dog, Boyce. When Whitney isn’t marketing books, she is reading books, making to-do lists, and laughing with her family. You can follow Whitney on Instagram at @whitneywalexander
1. Hannah Anderson, Heaven and Nature Sing: 25 Advent Reflections to Bring Joy to the World (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2022), 155.
2. Ibid., 1.
3. Ibid., 2.
