As we head into Christmas, I want to share an exercise with you that my brother shared with me (thanks John!).  It’s an exercise inviting God to show His personal Love for each of us in our day-to-day.

Maybe you’re not “feeling it” this Christmas.  Maybe you can’t imagine how God could love you.  Maybe you feel empty inside & need some extra love.  If so, I hear you and this is for you.

The exercise: make a very specific “wish list” for God, noting all the things you could use His help with.  It can be related to work, family, hobbies, friendships, projects, etc.  Note them down, leaving plenty of space to come back later and add to each item.

Continued below…

Scroll back up a second.  That picture of Charity in her pj’s, wondering at the Christmas lights.

Do you take the time to wonder at Christmas lights in your baby deer pj’s?  No?  Maybe it’s time we start.

As Patsy Cline sings in her song “If I Could See the World”, how would your life be different if you spent more time in wonder than in critique?  More time delighting and less complaining?  More time playing and less stressing?

“Just a big happy life, with a bluebird in every tree.”

What I’ve found is… you find what you’re looking for. 

If you’re constantly focused on the negative, on all the things going wrong, the reasons you can’t possibly be happy… you won’t be.  The negative will consume you.

Yet if you focus on the positive, on all the blessings God gives you, you will have “a big happy life” and find “bluebirds in every tree”.

It’s your choice.

As we find ourselves at the beginning of Advent this Sunday, we turn towards Christ’s coming; both His first coming in Bethlehem at Christmas and His second coming at the end of time. 

There is no time of the year that better grounds me in the reality of passing time than Christmas.  Children are a year older than they were last Christmas.  We gather around the tree & the table marveling how quickly time has passed.  We ponder Christ, His Love for us, and His invitation to Eternity with Him.

In these days of Advent, let yourself slow down.  Ponder… rest.  Encounter Christ in a new way through the darker days of winter, the colder temps keeping you indoors.  Allow Him to plant the seeds of His Love in your heart, to bud forth in the new year.

“I chose you… to bear fruit that will remain…”

These are Jesus’ words to His Apostles, but also His words to us.  He chose you; He chose me; and He wants us to bear fruit.

He intends for your work, for your life to bear enduring fruit.  He has chosen you and is calling you to your mission with Him in the world.

How’s it going?  Looking at your life today, two questions to ask yourself:

1. Am I walking with Him?  Is He an integral part of my everyday life?
2. Am I bearing fruit that will last?  The things I fill my days with, are they bearing enduring fruit?

We’ve been chosen.  We’ve been called.

How are we responding?

The readings for Tuesday stuck with me, particularly the Gospel on the Parable of the Great Feast (Luke 14: 15- 24).

For those not familiar, this parable told by Jesus is about a king who puts together a great feast & invites all his friends to attend.  They all make excuses & shrug him off, so he tells his servants to go out into the streets & invite anyone they can find (the poor, crippled, lame) to the feast.  One servant comes back & reports the above, “Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.”

“…still there is room.”

The Goodness of God knows no bounds.  Even when poured out on the poor & crippled, blind & lame, “still there is room” in His Heart to love more.

That means… I must always love more.  With His Love, I never run out; but can always pour out more upon those I encounter “in the streets” of everday life.

I’ve been thinking about the above quote/verse a lot this week, and it brought me peace in a couple of different ways:

• With work: As those close to me know, I have been dissatisfied with my day job for quite some time & am actively working on a couple entrepreneurial ventures to make Tomorrow better than Today.
• With the rough spots common to family life: Low sleep + two girls under 15 months = the occasional moment of “at the end of my rope”.

I took this verse & summarized it on a notecard, placing it in a prominent place so I will see it regularly.

1. Have no anxiety – refuse to allow stress to take hold of my heart.
2. Make your requests known to God – ask Him for help.
3. Be thankful – for the countless blessings in everyday.
4. Have peace – He is & will take care of me.

I can rely on myself, or on Him.  I find much more peace in Him.