He's almost here, God's-Mercy-Made-Into-Flesh. Can you feel Him? Pray, and ask God to show you where He is acting, especially as the days grow short and the night grows long and dark. Here is a psalm to reflect on:
Psalm 90: A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
Lord, you have been our refuge through all generations.
Before the mountains were born, the earth and the world brought forth,
from eternity to eternity you are God.
But men you return to dust, saying, "Return, you children of men!"
A thousand years in your eyes are merely a yesterday,
Before a watch passes in the night,
you have brought them to their end; They disappear like sleep at dawn;
they are like grass that dies.
It sprouts green in the morning; by evening it is dry and withered.
Truly we are consumed by your anger, filled with terror by your wrath.
You have kept our faults before you, our hidden sins exposed to your sight.
Our life ebbs away under your wrath; our years end like a sigh.
Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty, if we are strong; Most of them are sorrow and toil; they pass quickly, we are all but gone.
Who comprehends your terrible anger? Your wrath matches the fear it inspires.
Teach us to count our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Relent, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!
Fill us at daybreak with your love, that all our days we may sing for joy.
Make us glad as many days as you humbled us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
Show your deeds to your servants, your glory to their children.
May the favor of the Lord our God be ours. Prosper the work of our hands! Prosper the work of our hands!
st certainly be upset if the recipient doesn't give us what we secretly wanted. If we want to make a business transaction, say, a mix CD for $5, that's fine. But if we want to give a gift, we must do so for free, graciously, "just because I care." Very often, when we give gifts we do so for reasons that are hidden even to ourselves. How often have we given a gift so someone will give something back: another gift, or so that someone else will like us more, etc.? When we give a gift, we should do it so freely that we will give it even if the recipient doesn't even say, "Thank you."
The ability to give and receive freely is beyond us. Try to give something sacrificial to someone who neither will nor can make a repayment. For instance, don't give $1 to a homeless person - give him $50. Ouch. Here is the last it's-no-coincidence. It is no coincidence that in many languages the word for thank you is gracias and the word for grace is gracia. Grace is not just being able to dance well or move in a beautiful way or speak well. Grace is God's life of joyful love shared with us. It is like a spiritual blood transfusion. God takes His Heart and His Blood and puts them into us so we can think, feel, act, and live as He does. That's why the Son of God took on human nature, so He could share with us His Divine Nature. If He wants to take His Flesh and Blood and put them into us to change how we love... can you guess how He does such a thing?
