“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars.
On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world,
for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” Luke 21:25-26
Merry Christmas! 😊
On the first Sunday of Advent, it’s always like this.
To get to the baby Jesus lying in a manger not crying of course,
we have to first go through the stern adult Jesus reminding us that His birth was
just the beginning of some very serious business…which may very well make us cry.
And, His return, His second advent, His second coming,
is even more serious because Jesus is going to finish what He started
on a cosmic and cataclysmic scale.
God is going to ROCK the UNIVERSE
from the planets above to the earth and sea, and to our very souls.
And we need to be ready when He comes.
Part of being ready is heeding Jesus’ encouragement to Be careful and not let our hearts
become weighed down…with the anxieties of life (v. 34)
Easier said than done Jesus.
Have You seen this world lately?
This broken world and the weightiness of it has, on our best days at times
seemed too much to bear,
and on our worst, been crushingly unbearable.
With the weight of it all, how do we enter this season of merry and bright,
and ready ourselves for You?
We know the scriptures about casting our anxieties
and we don’t take lightly the why of that instruction-
that You, Alpha and Omega, care for us.
Okay. Yes God, I heard it. And…actually that’s a really good place to start.
We could take a moment right now, and breathe that in.
You…Alpha and Omega…care for us.
You, Alpha and Omega, care for us.
That is the point of this season after all.
You came out of so love to free us from the weight of sin and death, a weight with eternal
consequences which threatened any hope of our freedom.
You bore the full excruciating force of that weight.
You, Who knew no sin, became sin.
You emptied Yourself of Yourself taking the form of a servant,
You humbled Yourself becoming obedient to the point of death –
even death on a cross.
You, Alpha and Omega, care for us,
so You came for us.
You saved us.
You freed us.
You lifted us up from under the destructive damning weight that we might
know the lightness of Your being,
Your breath,
Your Spirit within us!
We can be ready, because You make us ready through Your gracious gift of life.
You, Alpha and Omega, care for us.
Because of You, we are ready.
Because of You, we are able to stand, lift up our heads,
and know our redemption.
Thanks be to God!
Thanks be to God!
Standing ready with you and thankful for you, 
Dena
If you would like to view past editions of Grace for the Journey, follow this link: https://fairwaydistrictnc.org/category/from-the-ds/