Be still and know

Be still and I know that I am God, I will be exalted among all nations. I will be exalted throughout the World.

Psalm 46:10

Christmas season is upon us. This is the perfect time to pray and meditate with this beautiful quote from Psalm 46. 

It is winter in North Carolina, and we are celebrating the Christmas Season. The promise of light and hope in the cold and darkness. The sky is often gray, even the warmest days feel cold and damp. The trees are bare reaching their limbs to the sky. Only the hardiest of animals and birds forage for food. Yet in this season when all is bare and vulnerable, there is the beginning of transformation.

Beneath the cold and wet ground, are the beginnings of the stirring of new life. For gardeners, it the quiet time to begin the planning of new gardens. It is a perfect time to transplant or remove shrubbery. It is the time to thin out and discard.  

It is that special time beside the fireplace with hot cup of tea or glass of wine to enjoy, with a friend, to read a book, or to sit quietly with God. It is a time to pray, to be quiet, to reflect. A time to shed burdens and look forward to new life. 

The light is promised to us in the birth of Jesus. The Holy child, our Lord, born into poverty and so very vulnerable, was born to each of us.

As we sit quietly and hold the child near our hearts. The old is melted away.  Our hearts burst forth with hope and healing. 

In the stillness, our hearts are aglow, bright in love and wholeness. The sadness we hold, burns into joy, death burns into new life, and all that holds us back is released. We are becoming the transformed people of God.

Take this time to be still, to be in prayer and conversation with God, to listen and most of all to savor how much you are loved.

Christmas Blessings to each of you.

In love,

Deacon Jackie