We are excited to share with you this week’s devotional written by our own Judi Morrison. As we focus on Advent through the lens of family, we hope this devotional encourages your faith.
They sat at the table reminiscing, two girls enjoying one another’s company as they sipped their afternoon cocoa. The room was dim, unlit by lamps, surrendering slowly to afternoon shadows. As the sun sank behind the mountains, they recalled shared memories of holidays and times spent together. It was the quiet hour…the hush of the day. The table had long been cleared from lunch and dinner was just beginning to be thought of in the kitchen. It would be a meal of leftovers reheated from the Thanksgiving feast, a no fuss meal. The two sat in stillness, their voices low, remembering, holding onto the quiet.
The girls are cousins and two of my granddaughters, ages 6 and 7. I love that already they share memories. I am grateful they love and enjoy one another. I am grateful that they know they are loved by their parents and siblings, and by the greater family that includes cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I am grateful that their hearts are tender toward one another. I am thankful they have already begun to know the comfortable pleasure of a quiet conversation.
To belong to one another is one of the great blessings of a loving family, to know that whatever the circumstance, whatever one’s mood, in joy, in sorrow, in shame, or fear, with family, there is sanctuary.
Family is our starting place; sometimes it is wonderful, sometimes miserable, always imperfect. It is the context wherein we begin to question who we are, where we fit, and how to make sense of life. However clearly or unclearly we discern our value as individuals by learning our place within our families of origin, each one of us needs to realize the astounding truth that we are invited to be part of God’s family. It is in His family that we can, without fear, allow ourselves to be known, loved, forgiven. Within the milieu of God’s unconditional love and grace, we are free to let go of defenses, accept our weaknesses, and grow in the freedom of humility and kindness. It is with Him that we are safe, cherished, delighted in, and it is within the Church we learn how to include and embrace one another as co-members of the Family of God.
Psalm 68 tells us:
Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families,
he leads out the prisoners with singing.
CrossView Church, we are God’s family. You are welcome here. You belong here. You are loved.
Our prayer for you this Christmas season is that you will grow in understanding that the God of Creation, the Savior whose birth we celebrate, is the One who welcomes you and calls you His own.