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! 

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Different and Wonderful

 

“How can this be?” – Luke 1:34

They say that stress is caused when reality doesn’t line up with our expectations.

The loss of a loved one, an illness, any other hardship, or even the weather might be affecting your preparations and plans for Christmas this year. Maybe this Christmas feels different; it’s different from how you imagined it, and you don’t like it. You want the hurt to go away, you want to feel better, and you want things to go back to ‘normal.’

Mary was making plans to start her life with Joseph when the angel Gabriel came to her and everything changed. Giving her fiat to Gabriel meant letting go of her own plans and trusting God and His love for her. The reality of what her future held was different from what her expectations had been. She had to trust that God’s plan was still going to let them experience His love, joy, and peace.

God’s plan for you is to experience His love, joy, and peace, too.

“’For I know well the plans I have in mind for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for your welfare and not for woe, to give you a future of hope.’” –Jeremiah 29:11

What does this look like?

Christ shows His love for you in the kindness and comforting words of the people around you. If you didn’t get around to your usual baking, His joy will reach you when you appreciate simple Christmas chocolates or store-bought cookies. Whether they’re humble or elaborate, you can experience His joy through decorations, gifts exchanged, and meals shared. His peace will touch your heart when you cherish the time together with your loved ones, even if you’re missing someone.

Letting go of our expectations and adjusting our thinking to embrace what we have frees us to find Christ’s peace and even His joy in the new circumstances. This Christmas can be different and still be wonderful.

Jesus was born in a humble stall, shared with smelly animals. He slept in a manger – a food trough. No plush hotel, no clean medical facility, no crib with a soft mattress. He wanted to show us that none of those externals matter. What matters is that Christ is here with you and His love never changes.

Let go of your external expectations. Welcome Christ – welcome Love – into your heart. His Love is all around you.

Merry Christmas!

“Lord, let me seek out Your love, joy, and peace this Christmas.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2022 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 to your inbox, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

 p.s.

We continue to pray for an end to the war. If you’d like to help the people of Ukraine through the Cleveland Maidan Association, you may use either PayPal or a credit/debit card here:

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Even With Illness, We Wait With Hope

 

 “See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.” –James 5:7-8

 

“Not again….”

I thought by now we’d have the Christmas tree up and decorated and at least some of the gifts purchased and wrapped. Instead, my husband and I have spent the past week or two battling a severe respiratory infection.

I’ve had this kind of virus many times before, in various degrees of severity. This time, I’ve felt it spiritually as well as physically. I felt discouragement set in when I looked at the calendar and saw how close we are to Christmas and all the festivities that go with it. I’m also keenly aware that many others are battling greater illnesses and struggles than I am, and I feel compassion for them. And while I didn’t feel festive or energetic, I made myself put out some of the Christmas decorations, even if it took a couple days instead of a couple hours. Doing so lifted my spirits.

A farmer plants, waits, and looks forward to the day when the sprouts poke through the soil. His waiting could be described as ‘confident hope,’ the kind of hope that knows for certain that what was promised will come to pass. We adopt this same sentiment of anticipation during these weeks of Advent, and we can remind ourselves of it when we’re feeling flat spiritually. We remind ourselves that Christmas means God-with-us, and so our preparations for Christmas are both active and contemplative. He’s with us whether we feel His presence or not. He’s with us whether we’re able to put up decorations or just manage to take care of His gift of ourselves as we wait for the illness or struggle to pass. He’s with us when we’re the ones in a position to care for someone else. He’s with us when we plant seeds of love through our words and actions, and even when we don’t see the fruits of our labors. We trust that He’s working ‘underground’ to bring forth growth from our efforts. And we’re hopeful that our imitating Christ will make us more like Him.

While we acknowledge the difficulties of today, we remind ourselves that God never changes, even when our health, moods, and circumstances do. We look ahead and do whatever it is we can manage, one day at a time, to prepare for Christmas. In this way, we wait patiently with confident hope.

“Lord, help me not get discouraged by life’s challenges. Help me keep my focus on You.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2022 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! Feel free to share it with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Thanks!

 If you would like to receive these reflections directly to your inbox, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

 p.s.

We continue to pray for an end to the war. If you’d like to help the people of Ukraine through the Cleveland Maidan Association, you may use either PayPal or a credit/debit card here:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/...

 

A Wedding, a Baptism, and Christmas

 In the 2002 romantic comedy, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," Toula and Ian fall in love and want to get married. The problem is, Toula and her family are Greek, her father wants her to marry a Greek man, and Ian is not Greek. Ian wants to show Toula how much he loves her. He wants to share his life with her; he wants to share in everything that makes her her. He will do anything to be with her forever. So, he decides to become Greek.

In the scene of Ian's baptism into the Greek Church, the priest prays and dunks Ian's head under water three times. Toula and her brother Nicko are standing nearby, watching. Toula murmurs to her brother, "I'm just waiting for him to stop the ceremony and say to me, 'You are so not worth this.'" Nicko looks over at her, smiles, and says, "Yes you are."

Though there's an obvious difference of scale between them, we may draw an analogy between this part of the movie and Jesus' coming to Earth. God loves YOU so much that He became one of us; He shared in our humanity in every way except sin. Jesus, 'Immanuel,' 'God With Us,' lived among us and showed us His Love. He wants you to be with Him for all eternity and so He offered Himself as a sacrifice for you and for your salvation. While we prepare to celebrate Christmas, we also see His cross and resurrection. Through them, Jesus showed us that Love is more powerful than evil, and that even death itself couldn't put an end to Him -- His Spirit is still with us. In all of this, He lets us know, 'I'm doing this for YOU. I love you so much that I want you to be with Me forever. I'm offering Myself for you. You are so worth it.'

"No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven -- the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." --John 3:13-17

"Lord, thank You for becoming one of us and crushing the power of death. Help me to love as You love."

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