IT'S ADVENT !
Almost the last day of November and we prepare for the 'coming' the 'New Light' that pierces the darkness.
We prepare for the grand celebration . . . of the birth of Christ Jesus, our Lord.
And it all began in the Garden.
In the Beginning was GOD . . .
God BREATHED life . . . God placed AIR into the abyss . . . fresh air. . .
Then God created a spark of what we call LIGHT . . . one speck of light.
Then there was LIGHT.
LIGHT penetrated the abyss of dark and from God’s breath, LIFE began.
God formed, created, breathed, made . . . all that was perfect.
It was a GARDEN
God breathed life into molecules of dust and life began . . . WE were created.
And THEY said, “It is good.” [The full presence of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit . . . One . . . before time began]
The GARDEN was a perfect place for ADAM [man] and ADAMAH [woman] to reside forever.
Perfect temperature, perfect humidity, perfect days and nights.
A time for everything under the sun . . .
a time to be awake and a time to sleep . . .
a time to live in JOY.
A time to TASTE, SEE, TOUCH, LISTEN, SPEAK,
remain quiet, be alone, be together, BE.
ALL WAS GOOD!
LIGHT was separated from the dark and there was day and night.
But even at night there was no complete darkness because God created lights in the sky . . .
lights that pointed THE WAY . . .
light pierced the darkness at all times.
YET GOD expected only one thing from ADAM AND ADAMAH . . . just ONE.
God said, "For YOU to live in perfection, in absolute purity of MY presence, you must never eat of the fruit of this tree . . . the TREE of the KNOWLEDGE of GOOD AND EVIL.”
THIS IS THE CHALLENGE we continue to face today:
“You must never” . . . Ahhhhh, the spell is broken.
How many times have we been told since childhood . . .
“Do not” . . . How many times has that been an open invitation to defy the RULE!
The RULE . . . broken, shattered, smashed to smithereens.
New words, new concepts PIERCED PERFECTION . . .
SHAME, REGRET, FEAR, IMPERFECTION, SELF-DOUBT which leads to inferiority, self-loathing, anger, hate . . . JUDGMENT of self and others.
DARKNESS . . . a new kind of darkness . . . fell over the GARDEN
OUT . . . OUT of the Garden . . . INTO the darkness of pain and toil and impurity.
Soothing pools of water turned against ADAM and ADAMAH and became pounding rain that turns to sleet then hail then icy snow . . . then dries up and becomes salty-dry . . .
too hot to breathe. . . .dusty-dirty and shriveled up and there is no GARDEN left at all.
SO we now live in a world other than what God desires for us.
Yet, God IS. God created US, HUMANITY, for HIS glory.
God allows His Creation, Humanity, CHOICE.
We can return to the GARDEN again or not.
We can live in PERFECTION again or not.
AND WE AWAIT HIS COMING IN GLORY !!!
And so it is, this time of year, ADVENT, that we who have invited God’s presence into our lives throughout the
God CALLS us to return to HIS Garden.
It's dark in this world but there is a beacon of LIGHT that shines through that darkness . . . just one star in the sky is necessary to lead us back to The ONE.
Each of us can see at least ONE point of light, some can see more. The more intimately we know the ONE with whom we are joined, Jesus, the Christ, the more light we see.
Darkness still surrounds us, and always will.
Yet God’s LIGHT shines through this darkness.
If we follow God’s Light . . . He will show us the way to become totally ONE with Him . . . total perfection . . . at some point we will be IN THE GARDEN AGAIN.
It's our choice when that will become a reality to us.
Just as God commanded Adam and Adamah to follow ONE precept in the Garden, So does God command us to follow the ONE-ness of God's presence.
His command: BELIEVE !
God said, “Understand US as ONE.” Jesus said, “I and the Father are One.”
BELIEVE THAT God is Three, yet ONE.
God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit . . . from before the beginning of creation. No one can come to the Father except through His Son . . . . . Jesus and the Holy Spirit are ONE . . . GOD was and is and always will be ONE.
We are in the Garden with the ONE TRUE God. . . and we await HIs coming in Glory. . . His return upon this dried up place where, too long ago, there was a garden of perfection.
Not so fast!
One other caveat to God’s COMMAND . . .
drop all our BAGGAGE . . .
chuck it.
BAGGAGE = SIN
Drop the SIN . . . all of it.
LET GO!
Stop blaming the world, circumstances, others, for who you have become.
God created you as perfect in his own eyes.
God created you to live in HIS garden.
No more judging, anger, frustration, stepping outside of the God’s precepts.
STOP ! BREATHE !! REJOICE !!!
We are human beings, fallible, weak, seeking the perfection we will not have by worshiping that which is in this world. Only in God’s presence, His Garden, will we be like Him.
YET, our time we now have in this IMPERFECT world is our practice place.
We who have said YES to God, through His Son, are expected to FOLLOW Him.
How do we follow Him?
By following His POINTS OF LIGHT?
And where are these Points of Light?
During this time of ADVENT we take a pregnant pause and follow the Words God gives us, His direction, from the dark days of emptiness into the magnificence of God’s LIGHT.
Let’s take this time of pregnant anticipation to ponder the GIFT of LIGHT that was and is and is to come.
Let’s ponder the reality of each day becoming shorter, of darkness taking over the light a few more minutes each day.
The WORD of God will light the path as we walk in the
garden.
Let God ‘lighten’ our path as we embrace His Presence.
Let God direct us as we anticipate the celebration of new birth, as we anticipate the celebrate of THE LIGHT that will soon pierce the darkness and explode into
NEW SPARKS of LIGHT in our own lives.
Do we dare say the name of the ONE whose birth we annually celebrate?
Do we dare say JESUS was and is and forever will be LORD of our Lives?
Is He truly LORD?
"In the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God and the WORD became flesh and dwelt among us . . ." [John 1] and then he was savagely mocked and beaten and executed in the worst possible manner . . . for US!
So that OUR SIN would be taken upon Him . . all of it.
It was not the agony of being pierced by huge nails and pinned to a piece of wood.
It was not the agony of hanging until His breath was squeezed out of Him.
It was not the agony of unquenchable thirst, open wounds, piercing sun sucking even more life from His body.
It WAS the agony of taking all our baggage, all our black-tar-humanness upon Himself . . . our SIN . . . and by doing so SEPARATING from THE PRESENCE!
For one instant, TIME AND SPACE did not exist.
For one instant everything went BLACK - DARK . . .
totally black dark.
For one instant the Son was separated from the Father . . .
For one instant they were NOT one.
FOR US!!!
Yet God made this choice for US . . . in the same way that WE made the CHOICE to follow HIM and embrace ALL OF GOD: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
So, knowing this, knowing the GIFT we have, let’s embrace a few points of LIGHT that will lead the way to our return to GARDEN LIVING.
God wants this for us.
God chose HIS path to us.
We said ‘yes.’
"Yes" to God’s only begotten Son, "Yes" to a love that is so incomprehensible that we do not know how to embrace it.
GOD so LOVED US that he came to us, and helped us to be born anew, totally helpless, in need of feeding, in need of total attention in order to grow and BE and thrive.
Just as we anticipate the ADVENT of this annual celebration of the birth of that babe in the manger, it is also a celebration of OUR ‘new birth.’
When did you realize you could do nothing without the unconditional love of our Lord?
When did you step back from ‘doing’ it all and ask to be fed with the spiritual food that is required so that we might grow and thrive in one-ness with God in Christ?
When did you discover that, without the nutrients of God’s Word, without the consistent conversation . . . the listening . . . the silent pondering . . . the active asking?
Without the consistent activity of the Holy Spirit within us we are but empty shells that cover empty souls.
Let’s take a walk in the Garden and see what the Lord shows us on our journey.
We must ASK . . .
We must allow the Holy Spirit within us to drink into our soul all the treasure set before us.
The garden is teaming with an abundance of God’s presence for the soul. We must be willing to receive.
[Remember, the Holy Spirit was called into us at Baptism and is ‘sealed’ in us so we know we are Christ’s own forever.]
This old hymn will draw you back to the Garden.
Sing it out loud or within your soul.
In the Garden by C. Austin Miles
I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses.
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
[refrain]
And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known.
He speaks and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
[refrain]
I'd stay in the garden with Him
'Tho the night around me be falling
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.
[refrain]
"In the Garden" (sometimes rendered by its first line, "I Come to the Garden Alone" is a gospel song written by American songwriter C. Austin Miles (1868-1946) a former pharmacist who served as editor and manager at Hall-Mack (not a typo, different from Hallmark) publishers for 37 years. According to Miles' great-granddaughter, the song was written "in a cold, dreary and leaky basement in Pitman, New Jersey that did not have a window in it let alone a view of a garden."
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