She was miserable: stuck in a job she hated no one special in her life. While her friends were busy celebrating weddings and having adorable children and prospering in careers they loved, she was alone, mired in self-pity.

But her perspective changed in an instant. Brittany Conkle writes about that in an article titled “Under the gun: New life after a home invasion”

She just had lunch with her mother. Her poor mom listened to her daughter’s litany of unhappiness and tried to offer what support she could. Then she returned to her small apartment. While in the kitchen, she heard a noise in the hall – and suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to lock the door behind her. She got up and looked down the hall. At the top of the stairs a masked man was pointing a handgun at her. She had never experienced such fear in her life.

He demanded her cash. But she explained that she didn’t have any that she relied on her debit card. Again he demanded money, and again she said she had none. She offered to go with him to an ATM. “You can take my computer,” she pleaded.

All she could do now was wait for the stranger to determine how this would play out.

And in that moment of waiting, she felt her whole life – the beauty, the love, the darkest moments. She remembers: “The one regret, the unfinished business I had with this life of mine. My mother would always think of our conversation and believe that her only child had died a miserable person, unfulfilled and greatly at odds with life. That is what brought tears to my eyes. I realized what a beautiful life I had actually lived; I just hadn’t always appreciated it . . . I’m sorry, Mom, I thought.”

A second later, the intruder turned and ran.

“A meaningless act of violence” her family and friends said when they heard about what happened. But she disagrees: “Every day, I have the option to decide: Is my story going to be about anger, fear and unhappiness? Or can my story be about peace, forgiveness and walking a new path of gratitude and compassion? . . . It is only by God’s grace that I am able to locate those virtues at all but they are there, bubbling along like an underground stream beneath the stony ground of my heart.”

Brittany’s confrontation with the intruder is an Advent awakening for this young woman. In the midst of her fear, she realizes the preciousness of her life, that life is a gift that God gives her – and all of us – in order that she might discover God in the love of others and come to realize the goodness of this world in anticipation of the next.

Advent calls us to “watch,” to pay attention to such signs of God’s unmistakable presence in all that is loving, in all that is beautiful, in all that is life-giving and nurturing.