"The Magnificat reminds us that what we most value, all that gives us status - power, pride, strength, and wealth - can be a barrier to receiving what God has in store for us. If we are full of ourselves, there will be no room for God to enter our hearts at Christmas." (Kathleen Norris, God With Us)
All those things that we spend so much time on, all those things that we work so very hard to achieve, do not bring us lasting fulfillment. They were never meant to.
"Most people, if they have really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we have grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The wife (or husband) may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job: but something has evades us.
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." ~ C. S. Lewis
Father, help us leave room in our hearts for you. For truly you are what our hearts deepest desire is, even when we are unaware of it. If there is too little room for you because we have filled it with too many other things, show us what needs to go. May we make room for you this Christmas.
Amen
4 comments:
Found your blog about a week ago. I am so loving your Advent blogs. Very encouraging and I can relate to so much of what you are sharing. If I still lived in Tucker GA, I would seek to attend one of your retreats :-) Thanks for sharing.
I was so tired from doing...that I almost didn't take the time to read this...very humbling. I try so hard to show how beautiful I can make everything at Christmas that I push aside the true beauty...born in a manger...Emanuel...God with us...thanks Mary, you always pull me back
boy Anita, i so understand!
grace and peace to you.
My husband was/is a fan of C.S. Lewis. And that was a good explanation of life.
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