But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. — Psalm 69:13
… for you are all children of light and children of the day. — 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5
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One of the Advent candles is especially short, as it has burned longest: hope. Peace and joy stagger upward in height, next to the tallest and youngest flame: love.
As you draw closer to the celebration of holy love’s arrival within your life, as it will be observed on Christmas Day, reflect on how your experience of love has already shaped you. Who in your early life offered models of love? What forms did that love take?
Often you see holiness—God—through the lens of the primary relationships from your childhood. This developmental concept of holy authority and presence doesn’t imply there’s a correct or wrong way to relate to God; it simply acknowledges that your lived experience informs the way you connect to God.
Is your relationship with holy love one that is intimate or distant? Is Godself, to you, a faraway deity who observes, but doesn’t get involved? Or is your connection to God one of friendship and immediacy? Do you find God in nature or through action and volunteering? Is God an abstraction or a vivid, tangible presence?
How is love expressed in your life? What face does it wear? What language does it use to reach you? How does it illuminate your life?
Love’s flame flickers along with the others. Let it dance within you, revealing what is holy within you, as it illuminates what is sacred in other people, too. — Rev Gail
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Love is not really an action that you do. Love is what and who you are, in your deepest essence. Love is a place that already exists inside of you, but is also greater than you. That’s the paradox. It’s within you and yet beyond you … Your True Self, God’s Love in you, cannot be exhausted. — Richard Rohr
Nothing can dim the light that shines from within. — Maya Angelou