Merry Christmas!

Photo credit:  Free-images.com

Imagine Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. They’re exhausted, Mary has gone into labor, and all the rooms in town are taken. Finally, they’re led to a stable, where at least Mary could rest and they would be protected from the elements. They may have wondered why God didn’t intervene in helping them find a proper place for Mary to deliver baby Jesus instead of being stuck in a stable with cows and sheep.

God, in His wisdom, wanted to use the circumstances of Jesus’ birth to teach us the holiness of humility. By allowing Himself to be born in a smelly stable and laid in a dirty manger – a food trough for animals – Christ united Himself with the poor, the powerless, and the humble. He proved that all people are precious to Him. 

Also, despite their crude appearance, the stable and manger became holy because the Son of God dwelt there. Since Christ lives in you, that means He can make YOU holy, too. Yes, YOU have holiness within you. You may see only your shortcomings and failings; He sees the beauty, goodness, and potential in your heart. You may think He won’t want to come to you or He won’t love you fully until you clean up your act. But look at how He came to us as a baby: in a smelly stable and dirty manger. He didn’t wait for a cleaner place; He was willing to use the lowliest of dwellings to deliver His message of love to the world. 

This Christmas, thank Christ for loving you, just as you are, and ask Him to make you holy with His loving presence. Offer to Him the ‘smelly stable’ of your day-to-day experience and the ‘dirty manger’ you see of your shortcomings. Open the door of your heart to Him and let Him transform you with His love. Let Him change you from someone whose heart may resemble something like a dirty ‘food trough’ full of things like pride and selfishness to a person who carries the love of Christ with them, who shows their world His humility and compassion. Let Him change you from someone whose heart may resemble a ‘smelly stable’ that houses bitterness and emptiness to a person who confidently shares the joyful news of God’s infinite love.  Let Him affect your every thought, word, and deed. Let Him make you holy.

Trust that He will use you, as He used the stable and manger that Christmas night long ago, to bring you closer to Him and help you bring His Love, Peace, and Joy to the world.

Merry Christmas!

“She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” –Luke 2:7 

“Lord, let the miracle of Your birth transform me this Christmas and make me more like You!” 

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2024 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Comments are always welcome! Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Make Room for More

Photo credit: Free-images.com

“Let every heart prepare Him room…”  We’ve all sung the joyful carol “O Come All Ye Faithful” countless times. In this last week before Christmas, let’s take a moment to examine how we might prepare our hearts for His coming.

We know that Christ’s love dwells in us and that it is meant to be shared. (Remember the saying, “Love isn’t love till you give it away”?) We prepare our hearts by spending time contemplating His immense love for us and then sharing that love with others in many different ways. So, the gifts we give at Christmas, whether they’re tangible items, our time, or our talents, are our response to God’s love for us. This response not only pours love onto the other person, it allows Christ’s love to grow in our hearts, too. Each time we give generously, Christ’s love expands in our hearts and creates a cycle that makes us more and more like Him:  When we give of ourselves, when we give away His love, we open our hearts to accept more of that love from Him. This love comes to us along with His gifts of peace and joy so that we’re inspired to share even more with others, which then opens our hearts for even more of His love. What does this look like in practice?

While you carefully consider what to give to someone special… while you’re making, baking, or buying a gift that will make them smile… while you’re anticipating with excitement the happiness your gift will bring... you’re preparing to share God’s Love and Joy and, in the process, you’re making room in your heart for more.

When you’re kind, patient, and cheerful with the harried cashier… when you over-tip the stressed-out wait staff…. when you let someone go ahead of you in line and then strike up a friendly conversation with them… you’re sharing God’s Love, Peace, and Joy, and making room in your heart for more.

When you put something in the red kettle… when you donate toward a community Giving Tree… when you give in any way to people in need… you’re offering God’s Love, Joy, and Hope, and making room in your heart for more.

When you bake Christmas cookies to share… when you participate in a gift exchange… when you decorate your workspace or home… you’re sharing God’s Love and Joy, and making room in your heart for more.

When we make room in our hearts for more of His love, peace, and joy, we find ourselves becoming more loving, patient, generous, and kind over time. We become more like Him.

Christ came to show us the way. Let’s take steps this week to prepare our hearts for His coming. Let’s give Him room to fill us with even more.

“Teach me Your ways, O Lord,” – Psalm 25:4

“Lord, help me prepare my heart for Your coming.”

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2024 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Comments are always welcome! Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

A Hiking Trail's Lessons

 

Wetmore Trail, CVNP

When Ted suggested we hike Wetmore Trail last weekend I immediately said, “Sure! Let’s try someplace new!” In the 35 years I’ve lived in this area, we had driven past signs for this trail countless times, but somehow we never hiked it. It turned out to be a beautiful trail for hikers and horseback riders in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. As we followed this winding four-mile path, I kept thinking, “How have we never hiked this before??” With so many other wonderful trails within a short drive from our home, we’d overlooked this one. I suppose that’s because, like a lot of other activities in life, we tended to go back to the ones that were familiar to us. Whatever the reason, I was delighted that we had stumbled upon something new, with our favorite features: expansive woods away from the sounds of traffic, streams to cross, and a few steep hills that kept it challenging, especially after last week’s snowfall.

Zoom in on the photo above: You can see the trail way up ahead as it winds through the woods. This would be hidden by foliage during every season except winter. I reminded myself that if we hiked only during the warmer months, when the weather’s nice and comfortable, we’d miss the unique kind of beauty that winter brings. 

As I marveled at the beauty and surprise of it all, I couldn’t help but compare this hike and this trail to our spiritual life: 

Advent is half over; Christmas is just two weeks away. It’s time to ask ourselves: Have I done anything different in my prayer life to strengthen my faith, my relationship with God, or my relationships with my loved ones? Have I done anything concrete for the people around me to prepare my heart for the coming of Christ? Or am I still doing what I’ve always done, sticking with what’s familiar, hoping my love for God and my neighbor will magically increase – or, worse yet, am I complacent with the status quo? 

In our spiritual life, if we always do the same things, if we do only what we’re comfortable with, we’ll miss opportunities for spiritual growth. We’ll miss experiencing God’s love for us in new and tremendous ways. Therefore, if we long to feel more fulfilled, if we want to experience a closer relationship with Christ and with the people around us, then we have to do something different. As I learned on the trail, we won’t experience anything new if we keep doing what we’ve always done. 

These last two weeks of Advent, resolve to do something concrete to strengthen your faith. Make time for prayer time. Serve your neighbor and loved ones with greater love. Contribute to a need in your community. Go out of your comfort zone, and watch God fill that empty space in your heart in surprising ways.

“Sing to the Lord a new song.” – Psalm 96:1

“Lord, I want You to renew my heart!”

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2024 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Comments are always welcome! Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Advent: It's All About Love

If we were to explain to someone the purpose of Advent, I suppose most of us would answer something along the lines of, “Getting ready for Christmas.” While that is true, Christmas isn’t the only thing we’re preparing for. Also, Advent is about much more than decorating, shopping, and baking, though all of that is part of it, too.

The word ‘advent ‘comes from the Latin ‘adventus,’ which is translated ‘arrival’ or ‘coming.’ There are three components to Advent: 

The first component, of course, is our looking forward to Christmas Day, when we will celebrate the historical event of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. We’re looking ahead to celebrating a past event – the arrival of God on earth as a baby. Preparing for this is much like the plans we make to celebrate our own family’s birthdays and anniversaries. Christ was born to teach us to love purely and radically, so all of our decorating, shopping, and baking in preparation for Christmas are appropriate activities to prepare for this wondrous celebration and to show our love to others.  

The second component of Advent is looking ahead to the second coming of Christ.  This is understood to be at the final judgment, when each of us will have to answer for how well we loved our Lord through the people around us. John of the Cross (1542-1591) put it succinctly:  “At the end of your life, you will be judged by your love.” And so Advent is a time for us to prepare for the day when we will be judged: to reflect on our own lives, make changes where necessary, and trust His promise to welcome us into eternal life. 

The third component of Advent is acknowledging that Christ rose from the dead and is alive today. Our faith lets us believe that He has already arrived; He is here with us! When we pray The Lord’s Prayer (The Our Father) we ask, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We pray for heaven to come to earth – and recognize that, through our loving attitudes and actions, we can make that happen! In these weeks of Advent, we’re reminded to give more of ourselves, our time, and our talents to those around us in order to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven here and now. 

And so, as you decorate, shop, and bake, add pray. Thank Jesus for coming to earth to teach us how to love. Look ahead to your day of judgment and take steps to love more purely and radically. Seize each moment and ask our loving, living God to show you how you can bring the Kingdom of Heaven to the people and circumstances around you right now. Trust Him to lead you; watch for opportunities; and follow your gut.

May God strengthen our faith and make our hearts like His.

“Trust in the Lord forever!” – Isaiah 26:4

“Lord, prepare my heart this Advent season.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.