Today is the lighting of the Candle of love, remembering… preparing the reason for the celebration and feasting.
Why do we feast, meeting with loved ones and eating the best of Christmas foods, presented with our best efforts to decorate and make festive? Why will we be setting the table with anticipation, gathering around the tree to share gifts with one another?
Because the love of the Heavenly Father has been shown in sending His Only Begotten Son. It makes us happy to know the glad tidings of Christmas and we share our joy together.
As we count down the days until Christmas, so few now, we are full of anticipation and that is the theme for the remaining days of our Advent.
Anticipation
We’ve been looking forward to Christmas all month, and now it is only a short few days away. People often ask me, “Are you ready for Christmas?” And of course they mean, “Have finished you shopping?… your decorating, … your baking…. your wrapping…. your Christmas cards? “Â Or whatever the preparations that make a happy holiday for you.
But today in the light of Love’s arrival, I wonder about that question in another way.
Are we ready for Christmas this year? Are we ready to receive Jesus in the way you must receive Love?
Just as He is.
Without offense.
Believing.
Hoping.
Forever.
Love as God expresses love is a forever thing. It is full of faith that it is just what it says it is and fills us with hope for what it will be. It also accepts Him as He is, and isn’t offended in what He is, or Who He is.
Why would we be offended with Love? We are disappointed when it doesn’t quite respond the way we expected, or in the time we expected. It is too humble, and asks that we behave with the same humility. It requires us to be honest about ourselves. It calls for us to forsake all others.
Some find that type of love offensive, and it doesn’t fulfill what they expected or hoped for themselves.
But if we turn away from the “Love that Came Down At Christmas” we will never know what a lasting forever love looks like, or what it can give us.
