D is for Dressed

ABC's of Advent
D is for Dressed.

All the way back we rewind the story from where we stand. Exposure with shame started in the most beautiful place any natural eyes could behold. A perfect place. Created for souls made in the image of God. People whom God saw and said it is very good. It was in this perfect place that eyes were opened. Where all that was beheld was good and true, evil slithered in and through contemplating the unseen with evil itself, a veil was formed. Evil corruption in every sense transaction of heart, soul, and mind.

The worse of all...naked exposure. What God had formed to be the most beautiful of all creation was corrupted by one feeling. Shame. No longer able to walk confidently as who they were created to be and represent, Adam and Eve, hid. Earth's first exposure to panic. The first desire to live life apart from God because if we allow Him...what will He see?

But God before all of creation fell, had a plan to lift it up high. And when creation's finest was feeling naked and abandoned, God came looking prepared to dress us as His bride. White garment without stain and without blemish. Our Savoir God , spilling the first blood that the earth has felt drip to it's soil. Blood shed to use the skin to cover shame. All of creation must have felt that drop. The time of suffering and separation beginning. God was so near, and now His perfect presence will feel farther and farther off with every evil deed committed and every drop of blood spilled.

What proof of the love between God the Father and God the Son, that fellowship is given up for our rescue. Being among us, even without us acknowledging their presence, and still they make a plan for rescue. Watching us daily cloth ourselves with dead skins and dirty garments, when what was prepared for us were cloths only suitable for a bride and groom. God in His angry, jealous love, conceived a child. Born natural, a living God the Son. And once and for all I have an option about who I am. I no longer have to wear shame and dirt. I don't wear other sins on my soul, and I can dress myself in the love of my Savior, who let His blood drip to the earth.

And His drops were from an eternal standpoint, the last drops. All of creation takes a great big sigh. It has been done. There is no more curse and shame. All is made well when one's lips whisper the name of this Christ child with us. "Jesus" He is here. And where He is there is no hiding. There is no shame, condemnation, no anger or greed. Perfect love casts out fear. And His love is made perfect in my weakness. Nothing left to do but receive and believe.

So today I rejoice. We are the bride of Christ. We are clothed with righteousness. Our Sins were as scarlet, like dripping vengeful blood, but they have been basked in the blood of Jesus and we are made white as snow.

Today I will choose to be with the most broken, foul mouthed person who God sends my way. I will choose to see through the façade. And then I will let love fill my view as I look right though. I will see the hurt that led to our journey's meeting place. I will listen to the needs and speak hope and blessing.

As a bride of Christ, I will take the nature of the one who chose me. I will be dressed in love.

C is for Collision

ABC's of Advent
C is for collision.

The great intersection of light piercing the darkness. The  great pushing back of the dark cloud in order to reveal the nature of God Himself. Showing Himself to a world who is in need of a map to wholeness. A collision revolving around spirit and soul, body and mind. A great explosion of thoughts, feelings, action, and beliefs.

This great dynamite of Jesus Himself blowing a huge eternal hole through the cavern of all the separation and darkness that has entangled us. No more being left feeling void and unworthy. No more needing a rescue. The great rescue has happened. The great collision has taken place.

All the spirit world freezes as the Christ child cries. Emmanuel, God is with us. Right here made of the same dirt as you and me. Elements placed perfectly so that our eyes can light up with Christmas joy. This God in baby form's cry echoing to all good and evil that God has come and His plan will not be hindered. They way He has paved will not be blocked.

And He is here now. God with me and God with you. So near, outside the constraints of time and nature. Like an artist standing outside his best peace on show for display, yet guarding carefully the elements that are still being released and interpreted. Treasuring His work. Reveling in the artistry and the reality of it being the finest of works. The Mater's piece. The last masterpiece.

Have you allowed a collision? Is there someone in your path that needs a collision of love and kindness to disrupt the frustration and discouragement that dogs them daily?  Allow yourself to be the dynamite in someone else's life today. Bringing a collision into view where they feel treasured, safe, and wanted. This Advent season, let's explode with love.

B is for Bowing

B is for Bowing

I think of the Great Creator I know. The One who seems so close I have felt is strong hand holding me when I feel lost and forgotten. That same presence that flooded my spirit as a little child. And when things got unsure and unsteady, I knew I was never alone. And the one who was able to think up us. Our quirkiness, our laugh, let alone our hair color and the way our noses wrinkle like no others. And then the miracle of growing a baby in my womb another one of His perfect designs, of the perfect timing of the bearing down and giving way to life. I stand in awe.

But then...the One who created all this, joins His creation. Becoming a seed and struggling through the life giving process to be chased and thrown out. They tried to push Him off a cliff until eventually they would just hang Him up high. He fought for breath to the bitter end. Thankfully it was our Savoir. With Him there is no end.

And this is where I have learned to bow down. Jesus did it first for me. He bowed down and came to creation. He bowed down and scooped up little children when He commanded, "Let the children come to me." He bowed down from lofty Heaven so that I would know Him and His love for me.

I have learned the that the art of mothering is bending and bowing. The stance of humility. Body language that brings calm and openness.I speak soft and look up into heart-broken, angry eyes, and I am received as one who cares. No pointed fingers, so harsh words or grabbing. Bowing down and waiting.

I give all I have to bend my knee and am rewarded with understanding. No greater gift. No sweeter victory. Healing. Today I will look for someone in a wheelchair, a small child in need of encouragement or correction, and I will bend low. I will smile and listen. Not bending to be heard, but bending to be loved.

Another day to give advent away.

A is for Advent

A is for the Advent Season
The best season of all.

Children and their sweet anticipation. Waiting expectantly and looking forward to the new and wanted that awaits them Christmas morning. Looking to serve and love. Looking for the reward in the smile of a stranger and in the joy of a word of encouragement.

Advent takes all that expectation and squeezes the best out of it. Hearts are open. People quicker to be peaceable and anger is dulled. The awareness of the presence of God here on earth heightens as we count down the days to His birthday.

Thanks has just been given a few days ago, as we know that all good things come after a time of thanks.

Great things happen when we want them too. Things do not necessarily go our way. God thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways (Isaiah 53:5-6) But if we watch and want, we will see these good things. Maybe we will take opportunity to be these good things.

The happiest people who live are those who give their lives away. So this is what we will do.

We will be intentional about giving advent away. We will not simply celebrate advent, we will become it. A soul waiting for the coming of their savoir. A friend reminded me not to long ago that there are few things that we can take with us to heaven, and one of them is our friends. We can love them to eternal life. We will live so that our good deeds will be seen. So that those around us will give glory to our Savior in whose name we find rest. Jesus. Come to earth so that we can be born into an eternal family.

Yesterday as I we began advent, I chose to serve those who need it most. The ones right in my own house. There is no place better to start the love cycle. There is no better way to change the world, than to start changing the atmosphere in my own home. So I start here. I stay up late in preparation and wake up early, so that those in my charge wake up to fresh sweet daily bread. We eat and remember. We admit our brokenness and give praise to the one who has made us whole. Whole people, a whole family. Stitched together with chords of love that cannot be broken.

Advent. The season of blessing. And it is only the beginning.