In a sense, every day is a clean slate, but often we carry the debris and dust of past years mistakes or hurts. I don’t know about you, but Christmas season is the culmination of weeks of fall cleaning and preparations for going into a new year. I am always hoping to have the house…
Advent Hope and Expectations, Day Two
From the beginning, God foreknew the need for His creation’s salvation. As we consider this our expectations and hopes rise in the light of the many promises centered around the advent of Christ. Read The Bible, Meditate Today’s Bible Meditation is found in Ephesians 1:3-14 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus…
First Day of Advent Surprise
Collecting together the devotionals for the first day of Advent entails a look at the meaning of the Candle of Hope. This is the first candle we light in the Advent season. Remember that for the traditional Church calendar this was not a flurry of festive activity, but a reflective time. Set apart for focusing…
Merry Christmas 2016
Merry Christmas! Here is one rendition of the Christmas story for you to enjoy.
The Night Before Christmas
This is the last day in our Advent countdown: tomorrow is Christmas! Have we prepared our hearts during these weeks with hope… peace…. joy….love? I hope so. If you have participated in any of these devotions, the theme of gratefulness and thankfulness has been a part of each day. Today the symbol is of the…
Thankful for Provision
The Magi, Wise Men Long, long before Jesus was born, there were prophecies written about his coming. Daniel was taken captive into Babylonia and was one of the prophets who wrote down some of those clues. The Magi, men who studied such things as well as the stars for signs, pored over the writings and…
Letting Your Light Shine
What is more cheering that seeing a light shine in the darkness… if it represents home, shelter, help, and reminds of something hopeful? What may the shepherds have considered when the skies opened up with light and angelic singing? How hopeful were the wise men, once a special star appeared in the skies? How may…
Appreciating Tenderness
Joseph was obviously a tender hearted man, the way the gospel says it, “Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.” (Matthew 1:19). He found himself in a sticky situation, that was surely an unexpected wrinkle in his hopes…
Appreciating Purity
Mary’s symbol is the white lily. Its meaning is purity and innocence, and appropriate for reminding us that the mother of Christ was a virgin; giving birth miraculously without having relations with a man. Mary’s Lily by ilonagarden Luke 1:26-38 Birth of Jesus Foretold In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God…
Thankfulness Making Room for Love
In the Christmas story there was “no room at the Inn” for the Holy Family. Demands and prior reservations had crowded the rooms to full capacity. Jesus was born in the shelter of the animal stable, Â and his bed was normally the feeding trough which held hay. It wasn’t that the Innkeeper did not wish…
