Merry Christmas, dear friends! God is with us! May hope, peace, joy and love be yours today and forever more!
Grace and Peace,
Laura
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
Christmas Presence
**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**
Our hearts are tender at Christmas-time. Some are grieving, some are overwhelmed with joy and many are a mixture of both. In reflecting on life and considering the lives of those I love, comes the reminder that we are broken, that we suffer, that we struggle and that we need someone with us.
Emmanuel - God with us. There is such great comfort that comes with presence and this is the beauty of Christmas. We are not alone, have never been alone nor will we ever be alone.
Emmanuel - the great beauty of Christmas that only grows deeper and richer within us as we sit and consider the great God of the universe coming to us, to be with us.
Will you sit with him today?
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
Our hearts are tender at Christmas-time. Some are grieving, some are overwhelmed with joy and many are a mixture of both. In reflecting on life and considering the lives of those I love, comes the reminder that we are broken, that we suffer, that we struggle and that we need someone with us.
Emmanuel - God with us. There is such great comfort that comes with presence and this is the beauty of Christmas. We are not alone, have never been alone nor will we ever be alone.
Emmanuel - the great beauty of Christmas that only grows deeper and richer within us as we sit and consider the great God of the universe coming to us, to be with us.
Will you sit with him today?
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Our Longing Hearts
**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**
“Come Thou long expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free. From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee. Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the Earth Thou art. Dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.” – Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Jesus is the joy of every longing heart. Our hearts long for freedom - freedom from fear, from sin, from struggling and from striving. Our hearts need rest and they find their rest in freedom that comes from Jesus. Whether we know it or not we all long for freedom and for those of us who know Jesus, he is our joy. Our longing hearts find their rest in Jesus. This leads us to gratefulness and praise.
There is always another place we can find rest. There will always be opportunity for us to be released from fear and sin and find rest.
May we continually find our rest and freedom in Jesus and may we experience the joy that it is to know him.
There is always another place we can find rest. There will always be opportunity for us to be released from fear and sin and find rest.
May we continually find our rest and freedom in Jesus and may we experience the joy that it is to know him.
**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Vision Changes Everything
**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**
This is what joy does – it sees farther. Joy sees what is to come.
Can you imagine having a vision of great joy? Whatever that vision is, we often do not know what sacrifices it will take. We have the example of Jesus, the One who is to come who continued to see the vision that was greater than the sacrifice. He saw the vision of joy of reconciled relationship with man, and the amazing aftereffects of that (they are infinite!). Joy sees beyond our present circumstances. Joy has vision and it sees farther.
**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**
“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2b
Vision changes everything. Vision makes you do things you never thought you could. Having a picture of what is to come changes how you live presently. The author of Hebrews says that Jesus endured the cross and scorned its shame because of the joy set before him. Jesus had a vision and this vision helped him to see farther. For Jesus, this joy was reconciled relationship with us, with mankind. The joy that was worth the cross was us.This is what joy does – it sees farther. Joy sees what is to come.
Can you imagine having a vision of great joy? Whatever that vision is, we often do not know what sacrifices it will take. We have the example of Jesus, the One who is to come who continued to see the vision that was greater than the sacrifice. He saw the vision of joy of reconciled relationship with man, and the amazing aftereffects of that (they are infinite!). Joy sees beyond our present circumstances. Joy has vision and it sees farther.
**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**
Monday, December 16, 2013
The Oxymoron of Joy
**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**
Sometimes life seems anything but joyful. It is difficult to find joy in the midst of loss, pain and anxiety. It is difficult to find joy in the midst of hardship and heartache because these things in and of themselves do not contain joy. They contain confusion, chaos and suffering. Joy is very difficult to find because it is not there. But Jesus is. Jesus is with us in the confusion, the chaos, the suffering.
Joy may be difficult to find but Jesus is there. Jesus is our joy and he is with us. He is with us in the suffering, in the loss, in the “I can’t breathe because this is so painful” moments. There can be joy because we have Jesus. He is the only reason that there can be joy in the midst of evil, pain and suffering.
We live life as an oxymoron of joy and pain, Jesus and suffering. He lived life as an oxymoron and we rest in the tension because we know the joy that is relationship with Jesus.
**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**
Sometimes life seems anything but joyful. It is difficult to find joy in the midst of loss, pain and anxiety. It is difficult to find joy in the midst of hardship and heartache because these things in and of themselves do not contain joy. They contain confusion, chaos and suffering. Joy is very difficult to find because it is not there. But Jesus is. Jesus is with us in the confusion, the chaos, the suffering.
Joy may be difficult to find but Jesus is there. Jesus is our joy and he is with us. He is with us in the suffering, in the loss, in the “I can’t breathe because this is so painful” moments. There can be joy because we have Jesus. He is the only reason that there can be joy in the midst of evil, pain and suffering.
We live life as an oxymoron of joy and pain, Jesus and suffering. He lived life as an oxymoron and we rest in the tension because we know the joy that is relationship with Jesus.
**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**
Thursday, December 12, 2013
The Depth of Peace
**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading..**
Peace runs deep. It is overwhelmingly loving, caring, all-consuming. True peace touches us in places we never thought it could or thought we ever needed.
Peace is that which does not make sense, that cannot be conjured or created. Peace is truly supernatural because it rises above and beyond all circumstances. Peace is a matter of the heart and it is a gift offered to us through Jesus.
This gift, this great peace, let it overwhelm you today.
**Sit quietly again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
Peace runs deep. It is overwhelmingly loving, caring, all-consuming. True peace touches us in places we never thought it could or thought we ever needed.
Peace is that which does not make sense, that cannot be conjured or created. Peace is truly supernatural because it rises above and beyond all circumstances. Peace is a matter of the heart and it is a gift offered to us through Jesus.
This gift, this great peace, let it overwhelm you today.
**Sit quietly again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Peace and Presence
**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**
Peace comes with presence. It comes when you sit with the creator of the universe, when you share all that is on your heart, mind and soul. Peace comes with being in the presence of Jesus.
Amidst all our questions, anxieties, hopes and dreams, Jesus calls us to be with him. He calls us to share those with him ... all of them.
Peace comes with presence. It comes when you sit with the creator of the universe, when you share all that is on your heart, mind and soul. Peace comes with being in the presence of Jesus.
Amidst all our questions, anxieties, hopes and dreams, Jesus calls us to be with him. He calls us to share those with him ... all of them.
He does not fear what we have to say nor does he shame us for being honest. Rather we draw nearer still to him as we share, as we sit, as we receive from him. His peace comes through love, through silence, even through conviction and discipline.
Will you spend time in his presence today?
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
Will you spend time in his presence today?
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
Monday, December 9, 2013
Come and Rest
**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**
Jesus calls us to call and rest. In this discipline to stop and rest we find peace. As we cease from activity, productivity and constant body, mind and heart movement, peace comes in and we rest even deeply.
Will you stop for a bit today? Will you rest and receive peace?
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
Jesus calls us to call and rest. In this discipline to stop and rest we find peace. As we cease from activity, productivity and constant body, mind and heart movement, peace comes in and we rest even deeply.
Will you stop for a bit today? Will you rest and receive peace?
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Hoping with Others
**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**
“Hope is a strong and confident trust,
given by the Holy Spirit and nurtured in life experience, that God, who has
promised good to us and all creation, makes good on his promises through Jesus’
coming and coming again.” - Leighton Ford
We need God to give us hope. We need others to hold onto hope for us. To hope is not a solo effort, we need others and others need us.
Often we cannot hope for ourselves. We see no way out and cannot see much light in the darkness. We are barely holding on by a thread and so a friend offers their hand, they offer to hold onto the light, the hope that they can see brightly.
When we cannot see others can see that God will make good on his promises. No one can know when he will but we live with the vision that he will ultimately when he comes again.
Are you struggling to hold onto hope? Who can hold onto hope for you?
Or maybe someone around you needs you to hold onto hope for them. Hold on for them.
Often we cannot hope for ourselves. We see no way out and cannot see much light in the darkness. We are barely holding on by a thread and so a friend offers their hand, they offer to hold onto the light, the hope that they can see brightly.
When we cannot see others can see that God will make good on his promises. No one can know when he will but we live with the vision that he will ultimately when he comes again.
Are you struggling to hold onto hope? Who can hold onto hope for you?
Or maybe someone around you needs you to hold onto hope for them. Hold on for them.
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
Monday, December 2, 2013
We Hope ...
**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**
We begin the Advent season with Hope. We hope because we need it. We hope because sometimes that is all we can do. We can hope because our hope is based on a person, on Jesus, the one who's coming we prepare for.
Even as our hope is based on the love, life, death and resurrection of Christ we still sometimes struggle.
Hope often wanes when we worry, when we look towards the future and see no way out, as we experience pain and loss. Hope wanes as we see and suffer injustices. Hope struggles as it seems there is more evil than good in the world.
Hope requires waiting, it requires trust and it demands blindness. Hoping is not easy ... yet it is true.
It is true because it is found in a person, it is found in Christ whose coming we celebrate and whose second coming provides us a vision of re-creation, all things made new, our hope being fulfilled.
So I invite you to Hope. Hope in the one that can fulfill all our hopes and leads us to live lives of hope.
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
We begin the Advent season with Hope. We hope because we need it. We hope because sometimes that is all we can do. We can hope because our hope is based on a person, on Jesus, the one who's coming we prepare for.
Even as our hope is based on the love, life, death and resurrection of Christ we still sometimes struggle.
Hope often wanes when we worry, when we look towards the future and see no way out, as we experience pain and loss. Hope wanes as we see and suffer injustices. Hope struggles as it seems there is more evil than good in the world.
Hope requires waiting, it requires trust and it demands blindness. Hoping is not easy ... yet it is true.
It is true because it is found in a person, it is found in Christ whose coming we celebrate and whose second coming provides us a vision of re-creation, all things made new, our hope being fulfilled.
So I invite you to Hope. Hope in the one that can fulfill all our hopes and leads us to live lives of hope.
**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**
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