So this is Christmas

The story of the birth of Jesus is just....lovely hope.  Love-filled hope that came.

Simple and pure.

The world waits on for this night.  We wait, we hope.

The Messiah is born, perfect and holy, in humility. Anointed. Our Savior.

The story just begins really...or continues. Isaiah, Micah, and Jeremiah all foretold this day when God's own Son would be born on earth. Many didn't have enough faith to believe.  They wrote truth over 400 years ago before we had Facebook and Twitter.

I love how God involved the lowly to tell his most important news. He trusts us all with the message of Christ.

In the midst of this dark, hopeless, yearning world, Jesus was born, on a most silent night.

All of heaven breathes life into a lifeless world. 

 Holy has come. 

The Heavens declare God's glory.  Our hearts sing...

Come let us adore Him....

Hope has arrived, and is swaddled in some baby blankets. So beautiful...and Heaven sent.

The Word became Flesh.

Our redemption began in a stable.    A foretaste of eternity with God.

How do we prepare for spending time with the Glorious?

We prepare our hearts continually...we willingly let His love change us. That's why Jesus came, for redemption of all mankind, but also to make us imitators of Holy, those that carry the name of Salvation.

What comes down this Christmas time is God's love — and the way to receive His love doesn't need us to wrap anything up — but to unwrap your heart before Him.  

Let the Glorious change you. Take in the Holy, the sweet fragrance of new life.

When we unwrap this kind of love it transforms us. Let it burn like a flame inside our overworked, worn and weary, most weak and feeble hearts.

Let the cares of this day, your life, your over-spent budget exhale and take in the Divine.

Advent – this season prepares us to take in the Holy breathe of Heaven, to dwell in us, to live inside us, to bring a Heavenly love anew, refresh us and it prepares us.

We ready for our finale, our ending with His beginning, His beginning prepares us for our ending.

And....what a glorious greeting we will have. Glimpse the holy at the stable, see pure simple, the breathing Life that prepares your heart room for a glimpse of heaven.

Oh how He loves us so...to send us Jesus...

How can we prepare to receive the infinite in our finite hearts? In our weak frames, the strong shoot of Jesse?

The best gift we could possibly need in the most unlikely place.

Because He loves us so......and because He loved us first...

His Love came to us....wrapped for us, to unwrap our lives

We prepare by letting Christ undo our hearts and give Him our all.

In our undone-ness then we can feel Christmas love come down and hope invade our hearts. In the welling of our hearts and in the wrapping of our souls. In the middle of our preparations, He prepares us with the only thing we need...

His love and redemption...and grace.  Grace binds us for the eternal and bridges us to eternity. And it prepares us to for our end Hope.

My prayer: Lord, thank You for speaking to us through Your Word and Your prophets and strengthening our faith. Thank you for making the first move, thank you for connecting the dots of history through the ages, through the circumstances. Piercing the dark world to connect our sin with your redemption. Thank you for sending hope to the hopeless, the whole forgiveness, the complete wholeness that we all crave. Thank you for sending Jesus. Thank you for your indwelling in us lowly creatures that desperately need your grace. Thank you for your mercy upon us. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for bringing hope to our world. Thank you for your endless love. Amen.

Merry Happy Christmas as you receive Heaven.

You could have heard a pin drop

Photo credit:  Janelle Keith - My quiet zone

There is a place that I go to everyday.  It's where I go to hear from God.

I read, He rights, and we talk.  Friendly conversations that gently fall softly upon my heart.  

I hear His sound.

It must be what Adam and Eve heard in the garden of Eden.  Think about how perfect that communion must of went every day.  Hangin' out with our Creator.

Shouldn't we be just a little excited about that kind of appointment too?

Imagine the fear they must have felt though, after knowing that they had directly disobeyed what God had told them.  No wonder they hid immediately.

Do we respond the same?  Full of shame and regret?

Why did they hide?  They were alone after all.  The serpent had just slithered into hiding, feeling really smug about what had just taken place.  

Genesis 3:1 "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden."

Have you ever thought how far away the Lord really was?  I mean what other perfectly created outdoor space was there?  It was the only beautiful, peaceful, quiet, relaxing place to be.  

I don't think the Lord was too far from Adam and Eve when they were standing face to face with temptation.  I really think that Adam and Eve were so distracted by pleasure that they forgot that the Lord was near.

If God was that close, and they weren't aware of it, think about how Jesus resides in our hearts and we still do wrong things.  Would awareness of His presence cause us to stop when we are face to face with temptation?

I have asked myself this question.  It should, but honestly most times, sadly it doesn't.  I do wrong things in spite of Jesus residing in my heart.  How could I?  How this must hurt my Creator!

When I think about the Lord being near, so near that I can hear His sound, then it should totally change the way I deal with sin.  I shouldn't be thinking about doing what I know is wrong.

I shouldn't be eating for comfort.
I shouldn't be doubting the work He has done in my life.
I shouldn't be thinking about....
I shouldn't be sinning.
I shouldn't be making unholy choices.

How did Adam and Even know they needed to hide from God?  Their eyes were opened to shame immediately.  One bite in and they knew.  

They knew.  We know.

Their hearts were filled with shame.  Regret and now separation.  Guilt.  

How?

They heard the sound of the Lord.  They were so familiar with His Presence, that when He came close, they had to hide their sin, shame, and guilt.  They were so used to Him being with them, so used to sharing their time with Holiness.   Because God had been a constant companion, His Holy nearness was shared between the Divine and the human.  When shame and regret separated, the gap was palpable.  I bet you could have heard a pin drop in the Garden of Eden.  

All of creation held it's breath, and shame slithered and hid.  Shame shouted so loud in those moments of silence.   

God knew what had just happened, He had planned for this event.  He wasn't far away.  Adam and Eve made the wrong choice because they had forgotten the sound of the Lord.

Next time you're faced with temptation, and I am saying this to myself as well, may we all be so familiar with the sound of the Lord, that it causes us to stop and consider the benefits of obedience.

May we consider the palpable silence that sin causes in the shared community with the Divine.  

May we always consider that the Lord is near and always hear His sound.