So my friends, what does today hold for you? Are you feeling lonely, sad, happy. confused, curious or do you just want the day to be over?
This time of celebration of an event that changed the world can leave some of us feeling very empty. It never is like you hoped. Perhaps you don't have the family you wished and thought you would always have. Maybe that special person passed on this year and it is hard to go through this day without them. Maybe the songs of hope don't make sense in a cruel world. What can we do about it all anyway?
A baby was born in such a difficult time. No doctor, nothing clean, an old ratty stable with 'mule and cow patties' galore. Not very glamorous for the Savior of the World to arrive on the scene. Yet He did. He arrived, and nothing would ever be the same. So what's in it for me you, might be asking? Why does it matter to me?
Well, it might not matter at all. You can go on doing what you have always done and hope for a different result. No, wait, that is the definition of insanity. But I digress.
Today we all have an opportunity to see change in our world. To see hope and a future where everything looks very greyed out and black.
How can we embrace this opportunity? In the quiet, in the stillness, we can call out to God: I need a Father, One who cares for me and always has time for me. if You are there, show me how this makes a difference to me. Show me how my life can begin to have the wholeness I know is out there somewhere for me. In the stillness and quiet, you can know and understand that things can be different.
This are Jesus' recorded words in Luke 17:33, the Message: "If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms."
Wow.
Sounds like surrender. Sounds like those things we try to grab aren't going to give us what we want after all. Maybe there is another way. Maybe I can see my life transform from me, me, me, to fullness and gratitude. Maybe.
Love this from the Life Application Study Bible on Ephesians 1:17: "Reading the Bible, great works of theology, and devotional material is wonderful, but there is no substitute for knowing God personally. What about you? Do you really know God, or do you just know about him? The difference is in spending time with him. Study Jesus’ life in the Gospels to see what he was like on earth two thousand years ago, and get to know him in prayer now. Personal knowledge of Christ will change your life."
This time of celebration of an event that changed the world can leave some of us feeling very empty. It never is like you hoped. Perhaps you don't have the family you wished and thought you would always have. Maybe that special person passed on this year and it is hard to go through this day without them. Maybe the songs of hope don't make sense in a cruel world. What can we do about it all anyway?
A baby was born in such a difficult time. No doctor, nothing clean, an old ratty stable with 'mule and cow patties' galore. Not very glamorous for the Savior of the World to arrive on the scene. Yet He did. He arrived, and nothing would ever be the same. So what's in it for me you, might be asking? Why does it matter to me?
Well, it might not matter at all. You can go on doing what you have always done and hope for a different result. No, wait, that is the definition of insanity. But I digress.
Today we all have an opportunity to see change in our world. To see hope and a future where everything looks very greyed out and black.
How can we embrace this opportunity? In the quiet, in the stillness, we can call out to God: I need a Father, One who cares for me and always has time for me. if You are there, show me how this makes a difference to me. Show me how my life can begin to have the wholeness I know is out there somewhere for me. In the stillness and quiet, you can know and understand that things can be different.
This are Jesus' recorded words in Luke 17:33, the Message: "If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms."
Wow.
Sounds like surrender. Sounds like those things we try to grab aren't going to give us what we want after all. Maybe there is another way. Maybe I can see my life transform from me, me, me, to fullness and gratitude. Maybe.
Love this from the Life Application Study Bible on Ephesians 1:17: "Reading the Bible, great works of theology, and devotional material is wonderful, but there is no substitute for knowing God personally. What about you? Do you really know God, or do you just know about him? The difference is in spending time with him. Study Jesus’ life in the Gospels to see what he was like on earth two thousand years ago, and get to know him in prayer now. Personal knowledge of Christ will change your life."
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