More thoughts about Christmas

'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' so the song says. And suddenly it's December and it's busy with planning for family events, catching up with friends for lunch, lots of singing of Christmas songs and of course the shops are full of it. My last blog got some reactions suggesting that there are some great things about these aspects of Christmas and I'd have to agree, while recognising that for some it's a hard time - the first Christmas without a loved one, the underlining of family dysfunction, the lack of resources to do what they'd like to, loneliness, poverty, homelessness. It's not all Father Christmas and pudding.

During this Advent (the period of waiting, waiting, waiting yet again for the wonder of Christmas) I have made time to stop amongst all the things to be done and  have been reading a daily thought from a very different Advent calendar. Each day's simple reflection on a Bible verse with a personal story has set me thinking.
One  page I read recently talked about Mary receiving the news that she would be the mother of that special baby. I have always marvelled at her response to such an outrageous event. Calm but active acceptance of her role even though it must have been puzzling and somewhat alarming. The writer (Dale Clem) suggested that we are all called to carry the grace of God within us and to give birth to the love of God in the world today. Phew! That's something to think about!

He suggests that 'every positive thought, every prayer, every time we treat another with respect, every time we feed the hungry and every act of loving-kindness giving birth to Jesus in the world.'  Just as Mary was enabled to carry the love of God within her we too may be enabled to carry the love of God within us so that we can love others and be the answer to their prayers.

How amazing Christmas could be if all those other wonderful moments (and all those experiences of pain) could be met with the love of God that is the very heart of Christmas.