+JMJ
Advent is upon us! It is really unbelievable to me that it is here already.
As I have said many times before, I struggle with really getting into the Advent season. Christmas season is easy, but the preparation for the coming of the Lord just has never really enticed me. It kind of makes me sad because it is supposed to be a time of Joyful Anticipation. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Nativity, but if given the choice I will always choose the Passion.
So, it was interesting that the Lord spoke to me about His coming while meditating on a passage from the Book of Wisdom. In it He shared a small morsel of His wisdom that explained how His greatness was able to come into the world I live in.
Born On Earth
I myself also am a mortal man, like all others, and if the race of him, that was first made of earth, and in the womb of my mother I was fashioned to be flesh.
In the time of ten months I was compacted in blood, of the seed of man, and the pleasure of sleep concurring.
And being born I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, that is made alike, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.
I was nursed in swaddling clothes, and with great cares. For none of the kings had any other beginning of birth. For all men have one entrance into life, and the like going out.
Wisdom 7:1-6
My Contemplation
I am standing in a vast crowd. I see my Lord walking, crowned with gold, and dressed in dazzling white. His power is radiant and tangible making the crowd part for His passing. He is elegant, regal, and magnificent to behold.
As He passes by, each person is brought to their knees. As He goes past me I am overwhelmed by the power of Him. A power that does not strike fear, but rather of adoration and love.
I feel a longing for Him to notice me in the crowd, but at the same time a desire to not be singled out by Him. A desire to be close to Him, but a hesitation, an unworthiness, that causes me to want Him to pass me by.
But my heart inadvertently cries out to Him. I cannot stop it. My heart feels like it has a mind of its own, and seems to know so much more than my mind does.
He pauses at the cry of my heart. I tremble as He turns to me, still on my knees.
“Empty yourself,” He says, His power washing over me.
He Decreased
There is a stark contrast between the scripture I was meditating on and the imagery the Lord gave me. At first it didn’t make sense.
But as I began to think about birth, my birth, and the birth of Jesus, things started to come into focus. Every person on the planet was born helpless, pitiful little things in desperate need of care. My Lord, too, came into this world a helpless baby. He and I took in the same earthly air and filled it with our cries.
The question I had was: How did all of that power He had shown me in my contemplation, fit inside that tiny little body?
He showed me that two things made it possible:
First, because of love. The truest love that was ever born on this planet. Only love would cause the Almighty Power God of all things to become like me. To take the form of a man and become flesh, when He did not have too.
Second, because of humility. His utmost humility, make Him so lowly and small. He decreases Himself in order to fit in this world. He, the All Powerful Lord, diminished Himself to be my Savior. When He did not have too.
Becoming Small
It is these things that could make the Almighty Creator small enough to fit in His tiny infant body. Into this world.
My heart is small compared to His greatness and power, but I am called to bring Him into it:
“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inward man, that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts; that being rooted and founded in charity, You may be able to comprehend, with all the Saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth: To know also the Charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge, that you may be filled into all fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:16-19
My heart does not seem capable of being able to fit Him inside it. Here He shows me that I too, have to be open completely to love and decrease myself, in order to make room for Him inside my little heart. When I decrease my wants, desires, and my will, I am able to make room for Him and all that He is inside my tiny heart.
Thriving in Jesus, My Friends!
What is residing in your heart that you need to let go of to make room for the Lord? How has the Lord revealed His power to you? Leave me a comment and let me know!
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