4 Weeks

There is a whole 4 weeks until we celebrate the birth of Jesus. It is the most wonderful time of the year. A time of sharing and giving and some recieving of wonderous gifts. Yet, it is the most hetic time of the year as well. It is a time when we all rush to accomplish all that we need to do beofre Christmas eve or Christmas Day. A time when we find all of our time is taken up by cleaning, shopping, baking, writing out cards, mailing presents to those who are not near during this time of the year. Yet, there is more to Christmas and these four weeks then we realize.

It is in these four weeks that we begin to really prepare our hearts to recieve the love of the Heavenly Father and that of His gift of Jesus. In this time we should be seeking God in an more intimate manner as we are preparing to celebrate his vigin birth into the world and all that it has to offer us as Christians. It is during this time that we are able to reach out to those who are in need, hurting and really share that Love of Jesus with them. Christmas can be a hard day for many individuals and families who are hurting and are afraid to show that deep hurt and pain. By showing them the Love and that gift if Jesus we can share with them a piece of our heart and a part of our joy that is always within us because of the Hope that Jesus brings to our lives.  We have this joy because of that personal relationship that we have with Jesus, and knowing He is there when we cal or cry out to Him!

It is in these four weeks that we are so wrapped up in the presents, baking, cooking and others things that we have to do to fully prepare the family and home for the glorous day that we often overlook so many things. We often forget that there are famlies out there that are really struggling to make ends meet, or if there children get a gift at all it will be a miracle because right now all they are focusing on is keeping them in there home. We can be a blessing to them and so many others in Christmas season. We can pick one of the tags off the tree at the mall, in the church and bless that child, adult or family in a manner that they would not be able to do on their own. We can get that tag and find a gift, but what if we blessed them in a manner that they would not expect, if they ask for a coat, get the gloves, scarf and hat that goes with it. Pick up a couple of extra outfits if the child needs clothes, you don't know long long they have to last that child and it could be close to a year before they get something new. Or when you buy that barbiew get some accessories that go with it. That child will be blessed and so happy on Christmas morning because you took the time to give to them. We can give to those in the parish as well, the sisters and priest who work so hard to keep things running smoothly at the church year round and never ask for a thing in return. They rarely get a thank you, or positive feedback. Take the time bake an extra set of cookies for them, or pick up a gift card for something you know they like. If you are unsure take the time to email the church office and ask what cookies, brownies or what their favorite store is and bless them in that way to say thank you for their service to you all year.

By giving of ourself to others, God takes notice. He sees when we are there helping those in need, and will give that blessing back to us in ways that we could never expect. By giving to those who have less, those who are hurting by giving them time to talk to you, you are giving them a piece of God's hope and love. We are after all His children, and we are to reach out and help those who are in need. If we know of a need and cannot meet it, help them get in touch with others who can guide them in the right direction, and take the time to call them and see how they are doing during this wonderous time of the year. It is amazing to see how much one can belss others in these 4 weeks if we take the time to reach out to those around us.

Sea of Love

Love is a mighty splendid thing. It is a wonderful emotion that is vital to our very existence. It is the thing that keeps us going when times get hard, it is that thing that gives us warm fuzzies inside when it happens. When we fall into that sea of love it tends to overtake all that we are, and occupies us to a whole new level. Love is that very thing we draw to when we have feeling have been hurt or someone / something has wounded our heart. Love lives within us. It is there and we chose who and when to display that love to others. Amazingly there are different kinds of love, there is the loves we have for our spouse, our children, friends, family members, church family, out priests or pastors, the teachers that our children love, or hate because they are a little tough on them to help them achieve their full potential in the classroom. Yet, we don't really think about Love that way, we know the thoughts and feeling of love, and we seem to run with it when it happens.

Yet, there is so much more to love then the simple emotion. There are the actions of love as well. That someone thinks of you often helps you when you are down because they care for you and about you. Love is there in the daycare, where you leave the children for 8 to 10 hours a day. Love is present in the nursing homes where the elderly are left and no one come to visit. The staff is there to talk to them, hold their hands, listen to their stories, and simply share life with them when they are feeling blue. Love is there in the ER when the doctors and nurses are running around to save or help the one that you love feel better, or if one passes they are there to help you grieve, bring you resource to help you deal with the death of a loved one that is unexpected, they listen, they care for you and all that has just happened. They are there because not only do they love to help others, but they are also a source of support and a listening ear when things go wrong. There is love that is happening in rehab home as those who are there are struggling to learn or relearn skills. The staff are there to rejoice with them when small steps are going right and there is an improvement, it may be a small one that is easily overlooked, but to the individual it is amazing, and staff understand that and rejoice with them.

There is love in the supermarkets, the Target stores, the Wal-Marts, Kohls and any other business that one may go to on a daily basis for work. There is a sense of family that is able to develop around you with co-workers. We start to develop friendships at work. There are people we like to talk to when things go wrong, others we can tell anything too, and some we like to shop with or go out with at the end of the night. In it all there is a friendship that forms and binds us to one another and at the center of it is Love. Love is there when we worry about a co-worker is not coming to work, and we are not sure what has happened to them. We have a bond with those individuals that tend to go a little deeper then just a person we work with, when essential we come to care and love them as a part of a extended family. We may not celebrate holidays with them but yet we care for them and worry about them if something is going wrong in their lives and all seems to be crashing down around them.

Although, at the center of all love is God. He is love, he shows us His love by dying on the cross and taking all the sins that we have ever committed or could ever conceive of committing and wipes our slate clean. He loves us with an love that there is no other love that is able to compare to it. It is a love that is always present in us, we know that God cares and loves us on a daily basis, and that there is no way we can earn that love. Rather, His love is freely give to all those who are willing to accept Him and walk with Him, talk to Him through prayer. We are able to run to Him in our times of need and never, ever will He call us needy, or childish! He is there waiting and wanting to shower us with His love is we go to Him. We are able to learn about Him through reading and worshiping Him in our homes, along with attending mass / church on Sunday morning. If we are truly lucky we are able to attend church or mass more so we are able to commune with Him on a more intimate level. By growing in God and in His Love we are able to reach out to other and show them the Love of Christ through our action, our words and by just being a Child of God in these hard times. We have the opportunity to love and be loved by the Father in Heaven, why not accept the free gift that he offers us and walk in His love daily.

Walking on the road.

We as Christians are followers of the Lord. We walk daily with Him and long to be in His presence. Yet, there are times that we all slip and fall, and may even walk away from the Lord. Yet, in the end when we return He is there to welcome us home with loving, open arms. We then find that ultimate love once again and start over with God.  We have to be open to the Father and His love to be able to walk, pray and grow in him. We also have to learn how to listen to God as we walk the road of life.

As we walk this road, we are to share the ;love of Christ with those who are around us. We are to have the Love of Christ with our family, neighbors, friends, people in the community, strangers, members of the church, the priest, the pastors and all that we can come into contact with daily, weekly and monthly. We are to inspire those who are around us to want to walk with God, and if they are to walking with the Lord, then we want them to walk closer, deeper relationship with the Heavenly Father. We are there to lead others in there walk, and to be lead by others as well. To be open to teaching and talking about the Lord with others, along with having a open spirit to learn about God from others. We are to have that communion with God, and woth those in our lives.

We are to pray, and listen in prayer. We as Christians are called to pray, to interceed daily for those needs, and people in our lives. We need to pray, and a part of prayer is being still in God. Something that is very hard for many people. To take that time to listen, be still and sit in God's presence and allow him to minster to us as His children.  It is so important to listen and sit quietly in prayer, yet we are so distracted in todays society with TV, sports, cell phones, email and work that we often list the petitions to God and say Amen! I can see God, sitting on there on the couch, going to say something, yet we say bye and walk out the door before we allow Him to speak to us. I heard a perfect example to this, we walk into the MD office and sit down, then The doctor come in and we say hello, and list all out complaints and worries to him, when we are done we say bye and leave. We didn't give him a chance to speak, and he stops you at the door and says, so you want to hear what I have to say? One other thing we all should do when we take the time to pray is to lift up the spiritual leaders in our lives. To pray for the priests, the pastors, the nun's who are in the convent and teaching in the school or working out in the community. They too need our prayers, they face some giants in life that we as lay people may never face. They fight for us in the spiritual realm, and we are thankful for them in our lives, so lets remember them in prayer as well.

As we continue down this road we are to take the time to become part of the church. I know that many are members of the church, but are you there in church or is it that you are just going through the motions. Er are to listen to the homilys, the sermons that are presented on Sunday morning. They are given to help us walk that road with God. They are there to help us when we come to the stumbling block, to give you the tools to use to keep on the straight and narrow path.  Are we singing the songs with our hearts or just our heads? Are you there wondering about lunch, who is calling as you hear the cell phone vibrate, or what the afternoon holds, and wow this is a long sermon! Are you just there waiting to see what happens, or are you drawing near to God, focusuing on him for that hour or 45 minutes once a week. Can we give God our full attention for that short time to God and learn more about Him, or are we so distracted that we lose the purpose of why we attend mass or church.

We are to go to one another or to the priest, pastor or maybe a deacon and cofess the sins that we have in our hearts. We are to go to them to help us in admitting our wrongs against Christ, and by doing this big step in faith we are taking the stronghold over that sin. We go to the priest and the pastors to help us in gaining forgiveness form God, so that we no longer continue to sin in that manner.

As we walk the road and follow after the Lord, we begin to grow and mature in Him. Those old desires to son become less frequent, we have to the tools to say no and to walk away from that sin. We are able to be secure in the Lord, because of His blood and His love for us as His Children.