“If you've heard this story before, don't stop me, because I'd like to hear it again.”
(Groucho Marx)
"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:11-14 KJV)
I love to keep a journal. This is the place where I recount my day, where I daydream about the future, basically where I keep track of my story. I also like to collage. Rip pictures and words from magazines that inspire me and then glue them down to enjoy the serendipity and meaning that I might glean from the new arrangement. For Advent, I decided to join these two loves. The pictures and the words prompt me to write and reflect on something new.
On the page I opened for today was pasted the word...story.
Something about that word just warms my heart. Give me a good story and all is well. Maybe that’s what I love about the Bible; it’s full of good stories. In it we meet all kinds of people and situations. As I mentioned before I am reading a daily devotion that has thoughts related to each book of the Bible written in the form of a love letter from God. Today the reading was from one of the most romantic stories of the Bible—Ruth.
Girl meets boy. Boy falls in love with girl. They get married and live happily ever after. Not that they didn't have to overcome quite a few obstacles to get to this ending. Part of the happy ending is that they become the ancestors of the central figure of Scripture—Jesus. The reading in the devotional shed a little different light on what a happy ending means:
“Ruth’s life is a they-all-lived-happily-ever after story, but it is not a parable of My power to make life comfortable; it is a parable of My power to make people holy. Know this: holiness and only holiness brings joy. No problem in your life, whether difficult problems such as disadvantages and loss, or agreeable problems, such as wealth, can stop My plan. Faith and hope together release love. And love is holiness. Hear what I’m saying in this love letter: no matter how dark the world around you, no matter how difficult the world inside you, My plan [love] overcomes all obstacles…” (God's Love Letters to You, Dr. Larry Crabb)
Love conquers all. Love never fails. Let’s enter the greatest love story all over again as we contemplate the coming of Jesus as a babe, and ultimately as the Lover of our Souls.
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