At age 60 I find myself drawn to Elizabeth in the Christmas narrative. Elizabeth was Mary's cousin who found herself 'with child' after her time of 'being able to conceive' was over. What a glorious reminde
r that we are never to old conceive and birth God's life and love.
Advent is a journey of pregnancy; that time of carrying deep within our body, new life that slowly develops and grows until it has developed enough to be birthed and live in the outer world. I have been pregnant three times and each pregnancy, each birthing and each child were different but the one constant in each was the awareness that a new life - separate from me; completely different than I - was using my body as a vessel of creation.
What Advent reminds as we begin a new year of spiritual awareness is that we are never too old to conceive new life in and with God. The Advent journey of pregnancy reminds us that it will take time for this newly conceived life to grow; that in the early stages there are few outer signs of conception and yet, over time, as this Life grows within, your body, mind and spirit will alter in order to accomodate IT's growth.
The picture attached is a candle flame ...a reminder that God's love and the life of God each of us carries within our being is alive and potent. This flame of love may well, at this point of conception, be small and barely seen, yet, as the stories of faith remind us, it IS.
Years ago, decades most likely, I scribbled down a couple lines from the writer Louis Everly. I wish I could remember the book they came from but nonetheless, here they are.
"Inside of every human being God exists and waits to be detected so that Creation may thrive. Loving people means summoning them forth with the loudest and most insistent of calls. It means stirring up in them a mute and hidden being who can't help leaping at the sound of our voice."
As you light your candle today may you know in your heart that God lives within you and cannot help but respond in delight to your voice.
Advent is a journey of pregnancy; that time of carrying deep within our body, new life that slowly develops and grows until it has developed enough to be birthed and live in the outer world. I have been pregnant three times and each pregnancy, each birthing and each child were different but the one constant in each was the awareness that a new life - separate from me; completely different than I - was using my body as a vessel of creation.
What Advent reminds as we begin a new year of spiritual awareness is that we are never too old to conceive new life in and with God. The Advent journey of pregnancy reminds us that it will take time for this newly conceived life to grow; that in the early stages there are few outer signs of conception and yet, over time, as this Life grows within, your body, mind and spirit will alter in order to accomodate IT's growth.
The picture attached is a candle flame ...a reminder that God's love and the life of God each of us carries within our being is alive and potent. This flame of love may well, at this point of conception, be small and barely seen, yet, as the stories of faith remind us, it IS.
Years ago, decades most likely, I scribbled down a couple lines from the writer Louis Everly. I wish I could remember the book they came from but nonetheless, here they are.
"Inside of every human being God exists and waits to be detected so that Creation may thrive. Loving people means summoning them forth with the loudest and most insistent of calls. It means stirring up in them a mute and hidden being who can't help leaping at the sound of our voice."
As you light your candle today may you know in your heart that God lives within you and cannot help but respond in delight to your voice.
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