Advent Daily Devotional: Day 12
Thurs, Dec 10 – DAY 12
Communal peace requires a different form of attention and advocacy. By our choices, with our voices, through our actions, we foster local peace. While some people may be in positions to affect national and global peace through high-level policy and practices, many of us shape peace through regional and neighborhood-based activism and engagement.
— Rev Gail
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. — Matthew 5:9
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” — John 20:21
Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. — John F. Kennedy
Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
— Desmond Tutu
Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that
we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all
that they are. —Hafsat Abiola
Advent Daily Devotional Day 10
Tue, Dec 8 – DAY 10
Peace within relationships may include committing to renewed availability to people in your life. Especially in these days, it’s easy to be too busy. To be distracted. To put deadlines and schedules and errands first, rather than focusing on the significant people who are essential to your wellbeing within emotionally intimate connections.
Or perhaps you’re with some folks constantly, care-giving or quarantined or working and schooling at home. Maybe you’re together in ways that make it challenging to step back and appreciate these special people in your life.
Make dates when the phone and computer and other screens and monitors aren’t drawing away your attention. Choose settings and activities that draw those with whom you’re spending time into more conversational, companionable roles.
Listen. Listen actively. Make eye contact. Repeat the phrases and themes you hear from the one with whom you’ve set aside time. Give your whole attention to the experience. Mirror body language.
Relax. Laugh. Have fun. Do a puzzle. Play a game. Cook together. Walk. Sip hot beverages. Share poetry aloud with each other. Discuss a book or article you’ve read. Play with a pet. Learn something new together: take an online class or try a recipe. Spend time in ways that are meaningful and rejuvenating for each of you. Such sharing may happen in person or across remote connections. Peace is a process, even in relationships. — Rev Gail
Peace be within your walls. — Psalm 122:7
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. — Psalm 85:10
If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
— attributed to Lao-Tse
Sometimes you need to know that you have good people at your back when things go awry in your life. Good relationships can bring peace of mind, not to mention longer life, companionship, health, happiness, and a host of other benefits. At bottom, we are social creatures who need each other. — Meg Selig
Advent Daily Devotional, Day 9
Mon, Dec 7 – DAY 9
Peace grows out of contemplative practices. Set apart time for stillness, centering, or movement as a form of meditation or focus.
Sometimes this requires becoming motionless: holding a yoga pose, maintaining a prayer position, or observing utter silence. Sometimes it involves movement of the body such as walking or knitting, and permission to unleash a restless mind through journaling or creative expression. One way or another, we are urged to set apart time and nurture the inner spiritual being.
Along the way, we aim to develop internal equilibrium. Become comfortable knowing ourselves more deeply. Gain insight. Renew energy and creativity.
Altogether, contemplative practices strengthen the spiritual muscles upon which we draw. They create resilience and balance in our bodies, hearts and minds. — Rev Gail
The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. — Isaiah 32:17
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. — John 14:27
Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. — Saint Francis de Sales
No person, no place, and no thing has any power over us, for ‘we’ are the only thinkers in our mind. When we create peace and harmony and balance in our minds, we will find it in our lives. —Louise Hay
Advent Daily Devotional: Day 7
Sat, Dec 5 – DAY 7
Lighting the candle requires multiple tools and actions. Hands to manipulate the match and candle. Fuel to ignite the spark. Oxygen to feed the flame. All these elements exemplify interconnection and dependency on each other in order to move from potential to reality.
Hope permits us to seek connection and support. Hope suggests that we are never alone. God is present to us. And we are designed to be in community with others.
Tangible hope shows up as relationships. Embodied by family, friends, and community. Showing up through family, partners, companions, classmates, collaborators, colleagues, care providers, mentors, peers or acquaintances. Put into practice by churches, schools, workplaces, classrooms, creative spaces, teams, workshops, clubs, charitable organizations, or public agencies.
Hope invites vulnerability and models strength through these connections. Hope admits that we require help. Says we don’t know all the answers or have enough resources to do it alone. Acknowledges that we belong to each other and need each other. Hope reaches out to offer or opens up to receive support and connection.
— Rev Gail
I rise before dawn and cry for help; I put my hope in your words. — Psalm 119:147
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.
—Maya Angelou
Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future. — Nelson Mandela
Advent Day 7: Daily Devotional
Lighting the candle requires multiple tools and actions. Hands to manipulate the match and candle. Fuel to ignite the spark. Oxygen to feed the flame. All these elements exemplify interconnection and dependency on each other in order to move from potential to reality.
Hope permits us to seek connection and support. Hope suggests that we are never alone. God is present to us. And we are designed to be in community with others.
Tangible hope shows up as relationships. Embodied by family, friends, and community. Showing up through family, partners, companions, classmates, collaborators, colleagues, care providers, mentors, peers or acquaintances. Put into practice by churches, schools, workplaces, classrooms, creative spaces, teams, workshops, clubs, charitable organizations, or public agencies.
Hope invites vulnerability and models strength through these connections. Hope admits that we require help. Says we don’t know all the answers or have enough resources to do it alone. Acknowledges that we belong to each other and need each other. Hope reaches out to offer or opens up to receive support and connection. — Rev Gail
I rise before dawn and cry for help; I put my hope in your words. — Psalm 119:147
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.
—Maya Angelou
Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future. — Nelson Mandela