This Sunday’s readings: Matthew 1:18-25

Reflections

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace—only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.
~Anne Lamott (1954-present)

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.
~ Soren Kierkegaard, Danish Philosopher

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
~ Corrie ten Boom

“Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion. “I am dying of thirst,” said Jill. “Then drink,” said the Lion. “May I — could I — would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
“Will you promise not to — do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill. “I make no promise,” said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer. “Do you eat girls?” she said.
“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill. “Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion. “Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.” “There is no other stream,” said the Lion.
~ C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

It is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight. And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going. But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings. You may not know where you’re going, but you know that so long as you spread your wings, the winds will carry you.
~ C. JoyBell C., Author/Thinker

This Sunday’s readings: Luke 2:8-14

Reflections

The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906-1945, Pastor-Theologian

Happy are those whose self-centered lives have been crushed and reshaped by the Master’s hand to be full of mercy.
~ John Hagee, 1940- , Pastor

I want God, not my idea of God. I want my neighbor, not my idea of my neighbor. I want my spouse, not my idea of my spouse. I want my self, not my idea of my self.
~ C.S. Lewis, Author/Professor

If we live in a denial of the realities of our need and we persist in this, we run the risk of existing in this forever. We will move towards something that’s like an asylum. Those in hell are diminished by the fact that they have denied the reality of themselves and the grace of God as well.
~ Dr. Jerry Root, Professor Emeritus, Wheaton College

If the only thing human beings needed were a little external tweaking of their life circumstances, then the coming of Jesus to earth wouldn’t make any sense. But if the greatest danger to all of us lives inside us and not outside us, then the radical intervention of the incarnation of Jesus is our only hope.
~Paul Tripp, author and speaker