
Love changes everything.
~ when given, received, or withheld ~
~ when accepted, rejected, or denied ~
Love changes everything.
This week I light a candle for LOVE along with the candle for HOPE. The theme of LOVE has been prevalent in my prayer, reading, and conversations lately. Some sources say the candle for the Second Week on our Advent wreath represents PEACE. But in my heart, I know we can't have peace without first having love.
Love changes everything.
Love makes relationships have a much higher value. With love, we are willing to risk, sacrifice, and share more completely. With love, we are more careful, thoughtful, and grateful toward each other. With love, the highs soar higher, the days grow fuller, and losses cut deeper.
Love changes everything.
Love is mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible. Jesus tells us it's the most important thing in our lives!
A scholar of the Law asked Jesus, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him,* “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” ~ Matthew 22:36-40
He showed us the greatest example of love through His humility, mercy, and care for all creation, and through His suffering, carrying the burden of our sins with the Cross, and giving His very life for our Salvation. We all hear and know these words. But, do they change how we act and live and love?
Love changes everything.
God showed His love by choosing Mary to be the Mother of His Son. Mary showed her love by saying YES to God's call and being the vessel for Jesus to be born into the world. Because she chose love, everything changed.
This week, we honor the Blessed Mother Mary with the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe. She loved God so much that she said YES to something she couldn't fully understand. She believed and trusted and said YES to loving Jesus before He began to grow in her womb.
Love changes everything.
My daughter's pastor related our time of waiting in the Season of Advent to Mary's waiting for the Christ Child to be born. Essentially, he painted the picture of Mary, in her 8th month of pregnancy, naturally having to slow down and ponder the miracle happening within her because she could no longer move quickly. We, too, are meant to slow down and ponder the miracle of our lives and the life of Jesus and what His birth means to us. That's the waiting this Season of Advent is meant to give us.
I can tell you from experience that the last month of pregnancy is definitely a season of waiting. So many things are much more physically challenging at that stage. Mothers are forced to slow down, put their feet up, and get more rest as they prepare to give birth. It is a time to imagine your newborn baby in your arms and all the special love that awaits us. There is no other love like the special love between a mother and child.
Love changes everything.
We heard about love in St. Paul's letter to the Philippians last Sunday as we entered this second week of Advent. One portion has especially been aflame in my heart all week.
"...the One who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value..." Phil 1:6-10
When we walk and talk and live in a space that begins and ends with LOVE, our love increases. Everything within us and around us changes.
Love changes everything.
My good friend shared this beautiful song with me last week. At first, it made me think of romantic love, but as this post was coming through in my prayer, I felt it very differently. I can hear the words and think of when I was pregnant, in the advent of waiting for my children to be born, in the advent of waiting as they matured and spread their wings, and in my new advent of waiting to travel and spend time visiting with them. But the most wonderful thing about this song is that we can hear it in light of God's love and move into a deeper space of living in the love of God. When we begin understanding and embracing His unfailing, undeniable, unending love for us, and we orient our entire lives toward loving Him, it changes everything.
Listen to the song and focus on God's love and the name of Jesus.
A true reflection of why we celebrate the birth of our King. The greatest love story of all times and we are blessed to be right in the center of it all! Beautiful reflection!
Thanks Monica. Very inspring.
This reflection was so beautifully written. The connections you made were quite moving.
Wonderful reflection
So relatable and beautiful!