Birthed Within

The world continues to press on even through this supposed restful time.  I am still caught up in between conversations, debacles, debates.  Swimming in perceptions between people, leaders, friends.  

And I am dead tired.  

The year of restoration, a promise, I remain holding on to because it is God's word for me at the beginning of this one.  Even in the middle of this exhaustion of still making hearts meet, bridging gaps and mending broken ties.  I hold on to it.  The year is not yet over and the promise has already been spoken.  It is on now a matter of time and the patience within my waiting.  That I shall be receiving soon, a moment of utmost peace and rest.  

I am hanging on to the promise of Advent.

The Greatest Gift has been such a great companion for me this season and this morning's read has got me grounded on the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth.  How the priest and his wife have been forgotten and barren yet their names are pregnant with their promise.  Zechariah means "God who remembers" and Elizabeth means "God is an oath or God is abundance".  How beautiful to read these reflections this morning.  I am refreshed.  

This is always the best place for miracles: God meets us right where we don't believe. When our believing runs out, God's loving runs on.  This is the season of the Advent of God.  The barren will birth.  Dreams will wake into reality.  Nothing is impossible with God.
You don't have to work for the coming of the Lord--you don't have to work for Christmas. The miracle is always that God is gracious.  You don't have to earn Christmas, you don't have to perform Christmas, you don't have to make Christmas.  You can rest in Christ. You can wait with Christ.  Open your heart to the miracle of grace.  He will prepare your heart for the coming of the Lord. 

This Advent for me has been quite a stretch and I can feel it in my mind, my heart and my spirit.  A stretch in believing.  A stretch in hoping.  A stretch in waiting.  But I am realizing that this is why this season needs to stretch.

The stretch is making space.  The stretch is giving way.  The stretch is opening that part of our hearts where God--Emmanuel--can be birthed within.  

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