Christmas and God’s Love
Christmas. The time of year where you get excited with anticipation for the big day. You busy yourself with checking off gifts purchased on your list, attending Christmas parties, planning your own parties, going to Christmas Concerts, decorating your home, and filling your heart with the twinkling of lights on every block.
The Christmas season is truly magical. But what makes Christmas special for you. Is it the buildup of anticipation for Christmas Day, visiting with family and friends, or spending the day with a new love.
For me, it’s a time of reflection of specific themes leading up to Christmas Eve, such as hope, peace, joy, and love—the advent season, which begins the fourth Sunday before Christmas.
Hope
It’s hope of seeing loved ones on Christmas day that sparks the excitement. It’s hope that keeps you motivated. Hope for that interview, that no snowstorms occur over Christmas creating delays at airports and hazardous driving conditions. Hope he proposes on Christmas Day or hope you receive a ‘big bonus’ to cover all the expensive gifts you purchased.
It’s hope that turns a switch in our hearts that connect us to our Heavenly Father, who blessed us with a special gift of hope, His Son. A gift for mankind. The light that shines through the darkness. It’s the hope of Christ Jesus, the prophesized Messiah, that changes your fears into joy. It leads me to this scripture:
The woman’s statement was one of hope. Jesus’s response, a confirmation that Hope stood before her.
Hope is the anticipation of good news. When it becomes real it fills every cell in your body like an overflowing fountain of goodness. It’s the driving force that keeps you moving forward despite the various storms you experience in life. Storms that slam you to the ground where hope is like tendrils you try hard to hold on to. It’s hope that prevents you from drowning in despair and hopelessness, which nearly consumed me this Christmas season.
I’m in the season of riding the storm. The storm of unemployment, poverty, and no gifts. I loved purchasing special gifts for the people I love—wrapping them beautifully with sparkling ribbon and placing under the tree with joy. In truth, having no gifts would paralyze me with grief. However, this Christmas Season, I’m not in despair, or feeling downtrodden, as God has a plan for me—to learn that gifts isn’t what Christmas is about. It’s about reflecting on the gift He gave us, His Son. It’s placing hope in His Son that enables us to overcome any situation.
It’s hope in Christ Jesus, His blessing, and His purpose that makes me wake up each day, seeking His purpose for my life and waiting for the perfect moment. He knows my heart and what’s best for me.
In a weekly group I attend at church, I felt the need for prayer. One of the women who prayed over me reassured when God closes one door, He’ll open another. He led His people out of Egypt not to have them starve, but to bless them with lands of milk and honey. Words I needed to hear, as God closed a door to a challenging marriage, and opened another for me. However, I struggle with financial hardship.
What I learned is God is with you when you experience these seasons, so He can mold you and thereafter testify to His intervention and provision. This truth gives me hope that this season won’t last. That I’m experiencing it so I can testify to His promises.
Peace
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
In conversation with a friend, I mentioned my predicament and how grateful I was to have peace in my heart, as normally, I’d be sobbing. She advised she’d been praying for me to have peace over the Christmas season.
This is how Jesus works amongst His followers, through the Holy Spirit. Touching the hearts of others and praying for those in need as they ride the storm. It was further encouragement He is there for me, and it’s in His peace.
It’s peace that calms the storm, wipes away fear, and assists in overcoming obstacles, as His peace dwells inside of you. As soon as you utter the words, “Jesus, my life is yours,” the gift of the Holy Spirit is given. It’s through the Holy Spirit, Jesus communicates and blesses you with His peace. It’s what we strive for—a peaceful heart. It’s what we wish for—world peace. However, it’s peace in the soul you need, which can only be given by Christ Jesus. It’s His sacrifice that created the gift of the Holy Spirit who blesses our heart, soul, and mind with peace. It’s transformative as His peace washes away old habits, beliefs, and replaces them with a new purpose.
Jesus desires a peaceful, and blessed life for you. To share this gift, as He knows how it will change your heart.
Joy
The completeness of joy is all around you. The laughter of a baby, watching a child sing or dance at a Christmas Concert, holding a puppy or kitten, or listening to the songs of nature as they embrace the morning glory and quiet subtleness of a sunset. It’s immersing yourself in the moment and allowing yourself to experience joy, as joy makes the heart smile.
When you’re riding the storm, these joyful moments may pass you by, as your eyes only see the turmoil within. However, it’s in these seasons, that seeking joy helps you cope with whatever you may be experiencing.
Jesus doesn’t want your life to be full of suffering. He wants you to see all His Father created. All He enabled to write scripture, so you can learn to trust and love Him more and more. It’s the building of this relationship that joy overcomes you and makes you shine.
However, when it comes to the Christmas Season, joy can be replaced with activities such as Christmas Parties and spending a fortune on gifts. You lose focus on what Christmas is about and the true purpose in celebrating with joy—the birth of the Son of God.
Luke 2:8-20
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
It’s so easy to succumb to the ways of society. Go with the flow, that’s what everyone else does, and what you’re used to. However, the joy of the season is misplaced on activities that take you away from the true celebration of joy.
It’s having delight in the Lord, no matter your season. Placing your hope in Him, embracing His peace, and celebrating HIs birth joyfully that the light of the world was born.
Love
What is love? It’s a question everyone seeks. Is it a feeling? An emotion? A longing to be with that special someone. Infatuation? I believe the difference between infatuation and love, is that love is enduring. I believe it’s more than a feeling and an emotion, as the love you have for another is forever present. You can be angry at someone and still love them. You can be disappointed with another’s actions; however, you forgive them.
I believe it’s in the actions you take. Acts of kindness, compassion, being there to support another in need, and giving your heart to another without conditions. It’s not selfish or angry.
1 Corinthians 13:4
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record or wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
In the Christmas season, love abounds. Many give to charities. Numerous hampers are delivered to families in need. It’s a time when acts of kindness is in abundance.
How love is defined in the advent season leads me to John 3:16-17...
Love is releasing your selfish inhibitions and putting others before your needs. The ultimate gift of love is sacrificing your life to save another. It’s taking this action without expectations and giving freely from the heart. I experienced this today at church.
The church I attend is First Assembly in Calgary, Alberta. We’ve been honoring the advent season, which gave birth to this blog post. This morning, a miracle happened. As I listened to the Pastor speak about love, how much God loves us, a thought crept in. If God loves me so much, why is He making me suffer? The thought faded instantly. Then in the crowd leaving church, a woman from the group I attend weekly at church, gently nudged me. She placed money in the psalm of my hand and wished me a Merry Christmas. I’ve only seen the woman twice at the weekly meetings. Sadly, I don’t even know her name. However, she was present when I shared my predicament and how God has blessed me with peace. I opened my psalm and there were two one-hundred-dollar bills. I’m still humbled and overwhelmed by her generosity. God revealed through her, His love for me. This is the greatest gift of all.
As you prepare for the season of miracles, I pray you take time to consider the themes for advent, hope, peace, joy and love. Take a moment to be grateful for all you have and thank our Heavenly Father, for the precious gift of His Son. The King of Kings. Prince of Peace. The light of the world who willingly sacrificed His life so you could shine.
God Bless,
Hi, I’m Cathy,
A blogger, photographer, author, passionately driven to pointing people away from new age indoctrination to find redemption in Jesus Christ.
I’m a mixed blend, excited to share all I offer...
Blog-Twisted Roots
Do you find yourself asking questions about new age, whether the practices and beliefs are leading your soul to redemption?
As a reformed new ager, I was saturated in the belief I could co-create with the universe and manifest a life of abundance. But I was deceived. This blog is to point you to the truth of God’s words and how He perceives the new age indoctrination.
Fine Art Photography
I always dreamed of being a professional photographer when I grew up. It was a journey to reach this goal, but I did it!
I owned a home-based studio for over a decade but have been shooting images for two decades. Now, semi-retired, I have a collection of my most cherished images of landscape or nature available for wall décor.
