Slideshow image

Awake my soul - an abstract depicting the light of The Word shattering the darkness by Mike Moyers

Reflection

The shortness of daylight hours is not the only aspect of darkness that hangs heavily over us in this month of December. Perhaps you’re someone who is unaffected by shorter hours of daylight? I am, gratefully, one of those people. But plenty, and perhaps most, can be deeply affected negatively by the lack of sunshine at this time of year. As such, bad news or traumatic events can feel amplified. Where is God? When tragedy or trauma leaves us utterly broken and completely vulnerable, we can feel too fragile to make a significant movement towards God under our own steam. Yet it is our personal struggles, with all of their accompanying doubts and fears, that actually offer each of us a gift by providing an opportunity for revealing how much we frail humans need God to move towards us.

So whenever life seems unbearably awful, may we always remember that God is right here with us. Emmanuel, the amazing gift of God Incarnate, is the hope that we look for with eager anticipation in this December’s wintry darkness. Advent is our journey towards that divine Light which illuminates even the long, cold nights that we may experience when our hearts are heavy and our minds are troubled.

Prayer

O Lord, you are our refuge and my strength. You are our ever-present help in times of trouble. When we weak, you are our strength. When we vulnerable, you are our refuge. When we cry out for help, you will answer. Remind us, O Lord, that you are always with us, you will never leave or forsake us. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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Image credits:

AdventJourney photo: Morning mystic - Casey Horner on Unsplash 

Awake my soul: Moyers, Mike. from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57138

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