The Twelve Gifts of Christmas
“She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.” Luke 2:7
“Christmas is not a day or a season, but an attitude that can shape our dreams and outcomes” according to Todd Outcalt. Indeed, Christmas is the beginning of the journey to discover the joy of a life that is totally rested in God. In one of my Christmas devotions, I was reminded that Jesus didn’t come to occupy a manger, a cross or a tomb - He came to live in my heart through the everlasting power of the Holy Spirit.
During the season of Advent, I had reflected on the parable of the sower to prepare the soil of my heart for Christmas - to be aware of the path, stony ground and thorny ground that keeps my heart from being a fertile soil for the good news of Christmas. The season of Christmas are the twelve days beginning with Christmas day and ending with the celebration of Epiphany which commemorates the visitation of the Magi or three wise men to the infant Jesus. I felt led to reflect on four prayers of the heart and the eight beatitudes in the season of Christmas of 2020 to unwrap the twelve gifts of Christmas.
The prayer of the heart is to express our intention to seek God’s presence and action in our lives. It involves choosing a sacred phrase or word to symbolize this intention. I pray, "Jesus Is Lord," to seek an encounter with our Shepherd of Love in a spirit of meekness and poverty. The next prayer, "The Lord Provides," is to remind me of my need for God's grace to have peace and to purify my heart. Emmanuel is a prayer to empower me to walk through the dark valleys of life and to hunger and thirst for God's righteousness. Finally, "Rest," reminds me to embrace God's Love by abiding in Christ.
These four phrases/word - Jesus is Lord, The Lord Provides, Emmanuel and Rest, together with the eight beatitudes are the twelve gifts of Christmas which I pray will help me live in the Kingdom of Heaven in 2021.
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