Merry Christmas!

    Merry Christmas, dear friends! God is with us! May hope, peace, joy and love be yours today and forever more!

    Grace and Peace,
   
     Laura

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.

**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

Vision Changes Everything

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**
 

“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.**

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.**

 

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.**

The Call to Love

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**

    Humble, Dependent, Risky, Persevering. Love requires all this and then some. How in the world can we live the call to love as God loved us? It is easy for me to love when I am in a good mood or when the person receives my love without complaint and demand. It is easy for me to love when I receive recognition or get something in return. I would argue that this is not really love, at least love for God or another. This is me loving me.
    To be realistic (I know, you’ve come to expect that of me J), all of our love is mixed with a bit of self-love. I have not decided if this is a necessarily an all-bad thing, I just know it’s a real thing. Even if our love is mixed, we try to love, we attempt at humility and dependence. We take risks and we stay. We love like Jesus by humbling ourselves before him, depending on him, not calculating and persevering knowing that love wins and is greater than anything else.
    The call to love is challenging, it is mixed and it is not perfect but it is our call. Let us live a life of love that is more and more reflective of Jesus and we grow in believing His great love for us.


**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

Love is Risky

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**

    We tend to be people that calculate. What is worth what, how much should we pay for this or that, how much time should we spend with a person, money spent, energies, etc. Calculating is okay but often our calculating trickles down to other areas in which it shouldn’t, including love.
    To love means we open ourselves up to the possibility of loss, to pain, to hurt and suffering. To love means we take a risk, because love does not function in addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. Love does not fit into numbers or measurements. It is wide, it is deep, it is long, it is high. The dimensions of love cannot be calculated.
    Yet it feels safe to calculate, to control. Yes, love is risky so we calculate it. We calculate how much we can give without getting hurt or least hurt. We hold back in fear of losing something or someone. We do not always calculate love but sometimes we do. This human response to self-protect is understandable. I want to prevent pain.
    Love is risky, yes. It means letting go of my deep, legitimate desire to prevent pain. It means considering that love is greater, deeper and richer than pain. Love is worth it and love does win.

**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

Jesus Stayed

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**

“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human.” Philippians 2:6-7 – The Message

    He stayed a human. Reading this passage I decided to read another translation to catch a different nuance to these verses. He stayed human caught my attention. He could have escaped this life at any moment. He could have decided the moment he was born that it was not worth it. He could have decided at age 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Jesus could have abandoned his humanity but he did not. He stayed a servant and stayed a slave.
    So many times I want to escape when I feel like a servant, doing menial tasks, “unimportant” things. I want to escape difficult things, hard situations and relationships. Jesus did not run back to heaven. Jesus stayed. How can you stay, what is God calling you to remain and serve in?

**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

Merry Christmas!!

May you know and feel the depth, length, height and length of the love of Jesus more richly today and in the year to come!

Christmas Love

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**

   Christmas love came innocent, vulnerable and as a servant. Christmas love came in humility, in downward mobility to meet us where we are. Christmas love came through a virgin-born, perfect baby so that we might live. Christmas love came as a subject and slave to anything and everything a human being might suffer.
    The vulnerability of a great God amazes me. He subjected Himself to a mother’s womb and human development, to a mother, father and human family to care for him, to dependence on others for food, clothing and a place to sleep. He put Himself in dependence on broken human beings. Not only did his love come in dependence, He knew he would be dependent on parents that made mistakes and were broken. The great God of the UNIVERSE put Himself in a place of utter dependence so that man could know him and live.
    Christmas love is Jesus. He is a God who placed himself in great dependence on men and women so that through Him men and women might live. A risky move if you ask me. A move He had to make for our lives.
    God’s love went to the greatest of lengths but it was not a risky move. He knew what He was doing and He knew it was worth it. He knew what would come from it and He came. This move of love brought light, hope and life to the world.  Praise be to God.

**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

The Call and Gift of Joy

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**

    Joy is both a choice and a gift. Most things seem to be. When I say it is a choice I do not mean that it is an easy choice. In reality choosing joy can be a very challenging, seemingly impossible. To choose joy requires a perspective and strength that is beyond us. To choose joy means that we choose it in the good times and the bad, in the ease and in the challenges. Choosing joy is not circumstantial but it sure is easier to choose it when life is easy!
    Joy is also a gift. An overwhelming, supernatural, mysterious gift that takes no effort on our part, we merely receive it. Oh how I desire that we would all have the gift of joy!
    My prayer is that you would have joy today and this Advent season. Joy that overwhelms, joy that sees farther, joy that is lived out more deeply and richly in the midst of wherever you are in life.

**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

An Oxymoron

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**

    I recently watched a friend singing “Joy to the World”, knowing that his world had fallen apart and he was struggling deeply. I thought to myself, an oxymoron is living out before my eyes.
    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.**

 

The Joy of Every Longing Heart

**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.

**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

Joy Sees Farther

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**
 

“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. This is what joy does – it sees farther. Joy sees what is to come.
For Jesus, this joy was reconciled relationship with us, with mankind. The joy that was worth the cross was us.
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.**

Advent Joy

**Please take one minute to sit, breathe deeply and seek quiet.**

JOY -
n: the emotion evoked by well-being, success or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires;
v: to experience great pleasure or delight.

    According to Webster, joy is dependent on our emotions and experiences. Our joy is subject to our well-being, the well-being of those we love, success and/or gaining the desires of our hearts. I can relate to this. Yes, joy is an emotion and can be found in experiences and I LOVE to feel joy!
    Jesus also speaks of a joy that is grounded, not fleeting and not at the mercy of emotions. Joy is found in a person – Jesus.
    Jesus is constant, steady and true. He is not based on emotion or experience. He IS. If joy is found in a relationship with Jesus then this joy grounds me and is not dependent on experience and emotion. Experience and emotion are there but our joy is not based on those things. Our joy is based on something more stable.
    Yes, joy is felt and joy can go missing but our TRUE joy, the joy that grounds us is found in the person of Jesus, whose birth we look forward to with great anticipation.

**Please take as much time as is possible to sit and reflect.**

A Call to Peace

**Before you being reading, sit down, breathe normally and be quiet for one minute.**
   
    In humility and pleasure God comes into the world fully man. This humbling led to sacrifice which ultimately led to peace between the two parties – God and man.
    What opportunities has God taken to bring humility into your heart and life? What opportunities have you taken to recognize the need for humility? How can humility lead to peace in a relationship in your life?
    The peace that God brings gives us reconciliation with Him – a restored relationship. What peace can you bring to a relationship in your life? How can reconciliation be a reality as you seek to live in humility and peace?

**Sit quietly again for as much time as is available to you.**

Peace on Earth?

**Before you begin reading, sit down, breathe normally and be quiet for 1 minute.**

    Can there really be peace on earth? Sometimes it is difficult to live with peace as the world around us is anything but peaceful. Wars that never end, relationships that are severed, chronic illness, so much more seem to plague any opportunity for peace on earth. U2’s Peace on Earth reflects the reality and angst of this dichotomy.

A few verses:

Heaven on Earth
We need it now
I'm sick of all of this
Hanging around
Sick of sorrow
I'm sick of the pain
I'm sick of hearing
Again and again
That there's gonna be
Peace on Earth
Jesus can you take the time
To throw a drowning man a line
Peace on Earth
Hear it every Christmas time
But hope and history won't rhyme
So what's it worth
This peace on Earth

    Many times we feel like Jesus does not see, does not hear and we want something, anything. Jesus, can you take the time to throw a drowning man a line? Does God care amidst the war, the sickness, the pain? If he does, then why doesn’t he do something about it? Why doesn’t he end it all and bring final peace?
    There are no answers that satisfy this angst, the pain and the weariness of the reality that there is not complete peace on earth, at least not yet.

In addition to U2’s expression are verses from I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day which say,

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

    And this is what we hope and pray; that the bells would ring louder, deeper and that we would trust that God is neither dead nor is he asleep.   
    Which song do you relate to more right now in your life? Take some time to talk to God and hear what He wants to speak to your heart.

**Sit quietly again for as much time as is available to you.**

An All-Gracious King

**Before you being reading, sit down, breathe normally and be quiet for one minute.**

“Peace on earth, good will to men, from heaven’s all-gracious King.”
                                                                                 – It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

To: The Earth and Men and Women
From: Heaven’s All-Gracious King

    The way the line is phrased in the hymn above sounds to me like a gift to with a “To” and “From” label on a Christmas gift. God's peace is a great gift to us! The verse comes from Luke 2:14. An angel of the Lord had just pronounced to the shepherds that a Savior has been born, and that he is the Christ. This verse in the hymn refers to when angels join in praising God after the birth of Christ. The peace that he brings is reconciliation between God and man. It comes from heaven’s all-gracious King. ALL-GRACIOUS. In his grace does Jesus come and through his grace does he save giving us peace. 
    Jesus is an all-gracious King. He extends grace as the greatest ruler. He does not hold back, he is good and he does not have favorites. He is a King who is full of grace. We have no concept of what that is like. We have ever only seen human, flawed rulers yet Jesus is fully God, fully human and a perfect ruler that brings perfect grace that leads to the greatest peace for earth.
    What a gift to receive this Christmas!

**Sit quietly again for as much time as is available to you.**

Peace Needed Blood

**Before you being reading, sit down, breathe normally and be quiet for one minute.**
"For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." Colossians 1:19-20

    It seems odd that peace would come through blood. To think that peace needed blood. Many times I think of peace as merely the absence of pain, turmoil, hardship. Sometimes this is true. Peace with God came through death, it came through shed blood. Who would have thought that peace needed blood? The life of Jesus, lived perfectly, ended with a bloodshed death. The blood that dripped is the blood that has cleansed our lives and has reconciled us with God.
    Jesus is our only opportunity for peace with God. It started with the incarnation, the birth of Jesus when God was PLEASED to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus. He was pleased to become fully human. The humility of God is enormous and to take it even further, the humility goes even to death, to the shedding of blood.
    How has peace come into your life through hardship, through sacrifice?

**Sit quietly again for as much time as is available to you.**

Advent Peace

**Before you being reading, sit down, breathe normally and be quiet for one minute.**
    Peace often comes at a price. Peace costs something. It costs something to someone. Peace in a reconciled relationship involves humility, strength and other sacrifices. For some of us, peace has been a foreign concept (and maybe continues to be). Our lives have involved a lack of peace in relationships, in our home, with God. We often think of peace as the absence of strife and discord. Sometimes it really is the absence of those things but often it costs something.
    Peace is also supernatural and mysterious. Peace is a gift that God gives in the midst of strife and discord. In the beauty and wonder of God He gives us peace in chaos.
    Advent peace brings us to consider the peace that comes through Jesus. The peace that we consider this week involved humility and great sacrifice. It cost blood, it cost a life. It cost the life of the One whose birth is coming. Peace often comes at a price. This peace is also a beautiful and mysterious gift that is given by the One who came to make peace between us and God and between one another.
    Reflect on peace today and ask God for the gift of peace.

**Sit quietly again for as much time as is available to you.**