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This Christmas, I hope you remember that it's all about love.
We make it into a season of crazy, of lights and winter tires and carols on repeat, and always giving ... giving time, giving presents, giving food, giving prayers and encouragement, giving stress (!) ... and sometimes I think our good intentions create background noise so loud we miss the quiet truth.
Christmas is about giving, but the gifts we have to give should always be step two - step one is God's great gift to us, and we can't even begin to pass it along to others unless we take the time to receive it, first. This Christmas, it's not about what you have to offer, and all about the no-strings-attached love that has already been offered to you.
True love - the deep, healing kind - is never about us and always about Him. Love is never what we can do and always what has been done for us already. Love is never about not being enough, but simply accepting that his love is MORE than enough.
THIS IS LOVE: not that we loved God, but that He loved us.**
And don't we so often try to do it the other way around? We try to prove our worth by loving well, and giving much, and we end up tired and falling short, even at the best of times. Because we mix up the order ... we try to give without receiving first, because we're told it's better that way. But sometimes, receiving is sacred instead of selfish, and giving when your heart is empty is the wrong decision.
So I hope that this Christmas is a season of receiving for you ... that you would take the time to accept the gift of Christ's love as a personal one - for you! - before you begin to pass it along to those around you. Yes, it is blessed to give. But oh, how life-giving it is to receive.
Merry Christmas, everyone! I'll see you all in the New Year!
xx,
Olivia
*Photo by Arun Kuchibhotla on Unsplash
**(1 John 4:10)
Such good truths!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Hailey! :)
DeleteThis is such a different perspective that I've never heard on Christmas, but I love it. I love how you make me think and see the truth through your posts. Merry Merry Christmas, Olivia!
ReplyDeleteHannah, it was a new one to me, too! I've been reflecting on that verse a lot and it just bubbled to the surface of my heart! Merry Christmas to you too!
DeleteMerry Christmas to you! The true meaning of Christmas can really slip farther away from us as we get more stressed. I am glad to have read this post. Reminders of what Christmas is really about are important to see.
ReplyDeleteSimply Me
Vanessa, it's so easy for me to get caught up in things that don't really matter! I am totally with you on this - on needing to remind ourselves of what is true! Merry Christmas to you :)
DeleteThis is awesome! So often we can get caught in the cycle of stress or trying to pass on the gift, but if we're not really dwelling on Christ's awesomeness for ourselves, we miss the point. I'm trying to sink more into the truth of what He did for us so this was super applicable for me. Love it! Hope you have an awesome Christmas, Olivia! :)
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
ReplyDeleteSo much of the time when you write this sort of post, it's something I've already been thinking about or I've read about somewhere else (I just finished reading 'The Broken Way' by Ann Voskamp. Have you read that one? It's all about giving and you being enough because He is enough). It's like 'Lest you forget...' so thank you =)
This is such an important reminder! Thank you so much for it. <3
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