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Being Loved

Good evening, my friends! It has been a couple of days since I last wrote, and for that, I apologize. I have spent the past week and weekend decorating the house for…you guessed it – Christmas! Never have I wrapped so many pictures and used so many bows or ribbons or gone through the tape so quickly. My family also have now, hold on, let me count – one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight candles in the house, with three new room sprays and two air diffusers. The Christmas tree is up and decorated, and the basement has three wreaths in it.

I guess you could say that we’re excited for Christmas.

While I’ve always loved Christmastime, this is the first time in years I’ve actually enjoyed decorating the house. Usually, it’s done on a weekend, where we give ourselves one day to decorate the whole house. By that time, we’re tired and cranky, and decorating isn’t as much fun.

But now that I’m home from school, and well, we’re home, I took my time. And it was very nice.

So, my friends, maybe that’s what this post is about. Take your time.

I know, I know. We all hear, “Slow down and enjoy the time”. But I think we repeat it, because beloved, I think we really do need it.

Even now, I’m reminded of that. Taking time to be with my family. Even if it’s just sitting and watching a show with my brother. Just being.

This year has made a lot of us slow down, and I think we should be careful that, even as things are continually getting better, we don’t forget our families and this special time with each other.

Beloved, each day is really a gift. What’s the best thing to do with a gift?

Enjoy it. Enjoy the gift.

You know, I think that’s what God wants us to do. Enjoy His gifts. Enjoy the gift of today, of this moment, of our families, of coffee, of ice cream, of puppies coming up to us while we’re trying to write a blog post –

The other day, I went to the mall with my Mother and my siblings, and I had a lot of fun. It had been forever since we had gone shopping, and besides the masks, it felt like before. People were out. Christmas sales were on. Coffee flavors are even more delicious – but the point is, my Mom was super generous to me and my siblings that day. She always is, but that day, it was even more so. It was Motherly love but multiplied. And as I was thinking about how great this day was, I felt like I heard within me, “You know, this is how I treat you all the time”.

And I think we forget that God likes to give us gifts. That every day God tries to hand us gift after gift but for some reason, we just don’t take it. We think we don’t deserve it, we want to try to earn it – but when we do that, it’s not a gift anymore. So we don’t take it. It’s like going shopping with my Mom, and she says: “Rachel, that cinnamon roll I see that you want, let me buy it for you. I want to buy it for you.”

And I say: “No, Mom. No. Don’t buy it for me. I don’t deserve it. I’m not a perfect daughter. I want to do something good for you first before I allow myself the gift of a cinnamon roll.”

And my Mom says: “Sure, Rachel. If you want. I won’t force my gift on you.”

You see, beloved, that sounds kind of silly. But we treat God the same way! At least, I know I do sometimes. And it’s silly! We can’t earn gifts. We don’t deserve any sort of good that God wants to give us. We don’t. Then it wouldn’t be a gift! And God loves to give gifts! Because He loves us, and God is love, and love gives. We have to receive, though. We have to be bold enough to just receive. To say:

“You know what, God? Yes to Your gifts. Yes to Your peace. Your joy. Your health. Yes to Your Son, Jesus. Your love.”

Pastor Joseph Prince once said: “Salvation is nothing more than consenting to be loved.” Isn’t that beautiful? Because that is what being Saved means. It’s saying, “Okay, God. I stop trying to save myself, stop trying to be good enough and try harder, I just stop, and I say, Jesus, all that You did on The Cross was more than enough. I choose You – because You chose me first. I let You love me, save me, and take care of me, forever and ever.”

Getting Saved, I think, can sound scary. But it’s really just accepting the greatest love gift of all, Jesus.

So, beloved, that’s all that I have to say for tonight. God loves you deeply and wants to take care of you tonight. Let us – I included – let God take care of us. Let’s let God love us.


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