Monday, December 16, 2013

Backwards Advent - Part 2


That Love Candle is giving me fits. Every evening, I sit done for my private Advent service. Since we've had the third Sunday, there are three candles to light. Hope. Peace. Joy. Love is not until Sunday (nearly a week away) but I have lit Love again! I'm really frustrated, and beginning to worry that, by the time we actually get to love, there won't be any love candle left to light!  

As I was thinking, "What is wrong with me that I keep lighting the wrong candle?" it came to me, "I'm in a hurry to love."  What a crazy thought that was! But maybe not. After all, the greatest of these (faith, hope, love) is love, so we should be in a hurry to love. It seems, too, that Christmas is all about love. His great love for us is why God sent Jesus in the first place. I'm beginning to wonder why the love candle isn't the first one we light. 

This whole love candle/love week deal is seriously on my mind. Since I'm accidentally doing love week every day in the middle of joy week anyway, I think we  should all agree to go ahead and have a combination JOY-LOVE week for two weeks in a row. Isn't that a great idea? As I see it, the JOY of The Lord is our strength and we are to LOVE one another just as Jesus has loved us. When we combine those two, we should be able to make an incredible impact on the world around us. It would be a really nice birthday present for Jesus, too. 

So, what does that look like? Mother Teresa would say we should do small things with great love (and joy). Tomorrow, ask God to open your eyes to ways to express His love with joy to those around you, then actually DO what He shows you to do!

I have opened up the comments below. I'd love to hear about how God has put you to work expressing His love and what He showed you through it. Happy Joy-Love week, and merry Christmas. 

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