Listen

I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:6

Think

Isn’t it humbling, overwhelming, to know that God loves each one of us so very much that God sent God’s beloved son, Jesus, to be our redeemer and savior? Advent is a season of preparation, of reconciliation, a time to focus on our lives and relationships with a commitment to changing our hearts and lives, to receive and offer forgiveness.

This time of preparation for Christmas reminds us that no matter what twists and turns our lives have taken, no matter how far we may have strayed from the way made straight for us in those prophetic voices in our lives, God has never and will never abandon us…even if we may feel abandoned and lost. God’s greatest desire is to find a place of welcome in us as we wait in joyful hope for the day of Christ Jesus.

Douglas Sparks

Question to Ponder:

What is keeping you from seeing or receiving God’s love today?

Pray

O God who started a good work in me, help me trust that you will stay with me, guiding and directing my steps as I wait with my siblings for the day of Christ Jesus.

Amen.

Go

May Christ, as he comes, deliver you from shame and fear, from all resentment and anxiety…

from A New Zealand Prayer Book (The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia)