dailydatewithgod

We as human beings are so sacred that we cannot help but create specialness and sacredness out of the simplest things.  It is an expression of our spirit to make holy the experiences that we have.  Without even realizing it we express our deepest selves when we invite ritual into the moments of our lives.  The Christmas holidays are just one of those times.  It is easy, however to get caught up in the madness of the physical representation of that spiritual ritual.  We worry about what gifts to give and who to spend time with and what it will look like.  We get frustrated with lines and traffic around shopping malls, the booking of flights and hotels, and who needs to be sure to be at our celebration of the holiday.  In the Catholic Christian tradition the weeks leading up to Christmas are known as Advent.  It is a time of preparation for God made manifest in the word, i.e.-the Birth of Christ.  The people are called to prepare their hearts for this incredible coming.  Our spirits, whatever our physical religious expression, call us to the same thing whenever we look to invite a greater consciousness, a God-manifest experience into our lives. We all know this experience deep down within us.  In order for our hearts to be ready to take in such an experience we need to clear out that which is the opposite of love.  It is a time of acknowledging those elements of lack of love that lie within our hearts and ask that God show us how to remove them so that we can create a stable space for the full experience of God to give birth in our hearts.  When I am holding on to a lack of love, an unwillingness to let go of my ideas of what should have been, I am closed off to the full expression of love in my heart.  Therefore my preparation of this time is about letting others and myself off the hook.  I am choosing to take this time to honestly look at that which I am holding on to that does not match the truest experience of God made manifest in my heart. I humbly acknowledge that I don’t even know sometimes that which I am holding on to. Part of my preparation is asking God to kindly show me that which I may not want to see.  When we spend our date time together I rest my head on his shoulder and say, I am here because I want to experience more of You, show me what I can do or be to make that a reality and then I listen.  I know that God will show me if I keep my heart and my eyes open and I will be given the courage to trust and let go.  My prayer for us today is that we are all given the courage to prepare our hearts and spirits for the greatest expression of God made manifest this holiday season so that it may truly be a time of joy and peace.  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen