This morning, I'm trying to think through my day. Two Saturdays left before Christmas and I'm torn on how to spend my time. The morning is getting late and I feel pulled in different directions. Wrap up shopping, wrap gifts, or stay home and clean the dirty house. Although I'm not sure which direction this day will take, I did stop and spend time with God. I hope these words bless you as much as they did me. After reading them, I'm not as worried over what does and doesn't get done...
The book, The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp, has been the highlight of my days. I always picture her life being picture perfect. Living in the Canadian quiet, half a dozen well-behaved Jesus lovin' kids who prefer fresh vegetables over French fries and who prefer memorizing catechism over video games. A deeply godly woman whose faith never wavers and who always chooses the right way the first time, it is how I think of her most of the time.
A few lines into December 14 let you know that she has known the dark of night. People don't have her wisdom unless they've lived it.
Light To Warm Us
Light the Advent candles. Light them, light them.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. No hint of help. No rumor of relief. No sign of saving. For us waiting through the night, waiting through the dark.
And then...there it comes to the waiting, to the leaning, to the cold-a dawn! Light! Light!
Christmas can only be found.
Christmas cannot be bought. Christmas cannot be created. Christmas cannot be made by hand, lit up, set out, dreamed up. Christmas can only be found.
Our God who breathes stars in the dark-He breathes Bethlehem's Star, then takes on lungs and breathes in stable air. We are saved from hopelessness because God came with infant fists and opened wide His hand to take the iron-sharp edge of our sins.
Our God who cradles whole inking galaxies in the palm of His hand...
The Light never comes how you expect it. It comes as the unlikely and unexpected...It doesn't matter how dark the dark is; a light can still dawn.
God favors the darkest places so you can see His light the brightest. And once the light of Christ shatters your dark, shadows forever flee your shadowlands. You live in impenetrable, safe Light of light, and Christmas never ends for you.
So light the Advent candles. Light them, light them.
Hope catching on everything.
"The people who walk in darkness will see a great light." Isaiah 9:2
No comments:
Post a Comment