Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The greatest of these is love

". . . We can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at his reflection is a poor mirror; but someday we are gong to see Him in His completeness, face to face, now all that I know is hazy and blurred but then I will see everything clearly, just as clearly as God sees into my heart right now.

There are three things that remain - faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love."  

  I Corinthians 13: 12-13.


Yesterday I sat down at my kitchen table where my advent wreath sits before baking cookies and making candy to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. I lit each candle, one stood for joy, another peace, another hope and the last one, love.  

 I opened my Bible to read the devotion for the day.  As I glanced at the candles, I noticed they were all brightly burning except the one that stood for love.  It was having a hard time producing a flame.  I thought, perhaps I should blow it out and start again, but I decided to leave it as it was for awhile.

I read my devotion which was all about love.  It said, as different as we all are, God loves us all the same.  The writer emphasized that God's love is eternal - unconditional, even loving us when we commit sin and willing to forgive.  His love is limitless and far beyond what we human  beings can comprehend or understand. 

The devotion noted loving others as God loves us and that those around us should see Christ in us because of how we love and who we are. 

As I read, I glanced at the love candle - it was still struggling to stay lit.  This does not represent God's love I thought to myself.  But I still let it be.

I began to pray - thanking God for His Word, asking for forgiveness, praying for others and praising God for his wonderful love.

When I opened my eyes from my prayer time, I looked at the love candle once more.  A smile radiated from my lips.  There it stood, the pink Christ Child candle.  Glowing brightly - bringing even more light into my surroundings than before.  It was like God was saying, "Yes, my love is strong.  You can count on my love.  It is a love that will glow inside you when hard days come or when you are feeling joyful.  My love will love you in spite of your sinfulness.  My love is so great that I sent my only begotten Son so that you could have eternal life.

A simple reflection from a simple candle on a wooden advent wreath.  But it touched my heart a lot and was a great way to begin my Christmas baking in my quaint farm kitchen.

Thank you Lord for this blessing I said, as I completed my special time with Him.:-) 

 And then I pondered, do people see God's love in me as Christ's child? It was another way to prepare my heart for the celebration of His divine birth.

May you experience God's wonderful, awesome LOVE this Christmas and throughout the New Year and may others see Christ in you:-)

1 comment:

Melissa Amateis said...

What a beautiful post, Mom. I love it so much. Thank you for sharing!