DAY 15: Ponder the Mystery: A Contemplative Advent Journey

While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:6,7

PONDER: The time has come. This one moment in all the history of the earth when God makes the Divine presence known through the very human birth of the Messiah – Jesus. “The time came.” The final labor and push as Mary delivers to us the long-awaited Savior. Emmanuel. God with Us, making his home with us. The Divine now knows all of what it means to be human.

RESPOND: Be present and attentive to the birthing of God’s presence within you. Take a long, deep, creative breath and pray, “The time has come.”  Can you recall and recognize the pain and labor involved in the birthing of your faith? Consider what it has asked of you throughout your life. What have you relinquished so that you may take hold of Jesus through your faith? Now the time has come. This Jesus, born to the world, takes his first breath. Look at this new life, awestruck by love. Let joy well up in you as you imagine tending to this life, wrapping it with bands of cloth, to warm him, protect him, embrace him. How can your life swaddle the Christ child in love today?

A BLESSING: May you recognize when the time arrives each day for new birth, new mercies, new perspectives. May your faith yield to hope as you push through the struggles of life. May you receive the gift of new life in you with awestruck love and expansive joy. Amen